Akame ga Hunt
by ExNarutoFan
Summary: At long last, the long awaited sequel in my Down a Different Branch AKG series. It's been weeks since Night Raid's final mission. True to his word, Tatsumi, joined by Esdeath, has made it his mission to hunt the Omega Class Danger Beast. Join them in this epic adventure as they hunt the most powerful danger beast the world has ever known!
1. Hunt the Wager

**Foreword: ** Ladies and gentleman, it's been 2 years, but at long last, I present to you the sequel in my _Down a Different Branch_ series. First, I'd like to apologize to all of those who have waited for so long. Particularly to those who have sent me PMes and have left additional reviews on my original fic, I am sorry for the wait. I still moonlight as a criminal defense attorney by day, thus it is difficult finding the time to write stories like this. I suppose it wasn't so much the actual writing process as it was seriously fleshing out where I wanted to take this story. Nevertheless, after two years of tinkering and tottering on my spare time, I think I've finally fleshed what exactly I wanted to cover with this fic.

**A word of warning:** This fic will repeatedly reference and build off many of the events that occurred in the first story. Thus, if you haven't read the first fic, I highly recommend doing so! This is especially the case for Tatsumi, Esdeath and Wave's respective character arcs. In order to understand where they are now and where they will go in the future, it's best to understand where they come from . . . if that makes any sense!

**A/N #1: **I seldom use OC characters. Most of the characters in this fic have been used in AKG canon at some point, albeit some with different or adjusted personalities. Like in the original fic, my primary goal is simply to tap into the hidden potential this series always had and I hope this fic can be used as a vehicle to do just that.

**A/N #2: **As I explained in the original fic, the author never did bother to flesh out the AKGverse's geography, countries, etc; the canon series does very little world building. Throughout the entire manga, we know very little about the origin of the empire, the origin of teigu, countries outside of the empire, the empire itself (which doesn't even have a real name), danger beast or even the Revolutionary Army. As such, I've taken creative liberty in fleshing some of this stuff out. In the previous fic, I not only gave "the empire" a name ("The Grand Empire"), but also fleshed out what three of the countries outside of the empire were like. I will continue engaging in the act of the world building where I see fit, but never to the point where I feel it bogs the story down (feel free to criticize if you think I am doing just that).

**A/N #3:** The cover picture is an original design I had commissioned for this fic about two years ago. I might commission another cover photo at some point, but this one works for now! It's not quite to scale IMO (Esdeath is a little taller than the picture suggests).

**A/N #4:** This is my longest chapter to date. Hopefully, the chapters will get shorter after this one! I felt I needed to cover a lot of ground in this chapter to properly set up events that happen much later.

* * *

**. . . _How did I get here?_ . . .**

* * *

Feeling as if he had just endured a prolonged nightmare, Tatsumi drearily began opening his eyes, beads of cold sweat running down his brow and his breathing with the rhythm of a stampeding horse. Just a nightmare; nothing more than a dream he thought. In reality, it was the middle of the night and he had been sitting on coarse and dry sand out in the middle of an equally coarse and dry desert. The sky was just about pitch black, glistened and illuminated only by a dim cluster of stars.

He tried to get up, only to notice a thick layer of ebony chains wrapped around him. What's more, he noticed the more he struggled against these chains, the more he felt the sensation of prickling needles digging into his back and even the back of his head. Turning his head ever so slightly, he had realize that he was chained to a cactus tree. And a surprisingly durable cactus tree at that. It was then that he realized the seeming river of pain flowing from his forehead, to his torso, to his legs. One of his eyes was swelling and both of his arms and legs appeared to be freshly bandaged up in multiple places.

"Finally awake, are we?", said the inquiring voice of a middle aged man.

Tatsumi gazed forward a couple of yards, only to notice a figure sitting at a modest campfire with a hot grease bubbling skillet resting over it. The figure appeared to be a middle aged man with blonde unkempt hair, a small beard and green eyes. What's more, he sported a black wild western coat, black wild western boots and a red scarf. And of more significance was the fact that Incursio in its dormant short sword state was lying right out in the open. Albeit that the hilt was resting firmly beneath one of this middle aged man's boots, it was nonetheless there for the taking. With determination flaring in his eyes, Tatsumi stretched out his right hand as much as he could manage.

Yet this middle aged figure was not the slightest bit phased. "To tell you the truth, I never would have expected a squirt like you to push Incursio as far as you have." The sheathed blade was rustling beneath his boot, attempting to go to its wielder, but, to Tatsumi's dismay, would not budge. "But now that I've seen the extent to which you've evolved its abilities, it's not going to do you any good."

Tatsumi continued to struggle against his chains, but it was to no avail. They were simply too strong. Too resilient. Almost as if they were made of . . . "_Orichalchum."_

"Seems you somehow figured out how to keep Incursio's strength enhancements without wearing the armor", the middle aged figure commented, his attention drawn towards his campfire skillet. "Not too shabby, but I hope you don't seriously think you can break out of chains like that."

Tatsumi looked around the area, his eyes emitting an illuminating crimson glow.

"Don't bother", said the middle aged figure. "It's just you, me, an entire desert and this skillet fried rattlesnake out here. There's nothing and no one around here that's going to get you out of this one."

Sensing the truth in his apparent captor's words, the luminescence in the former Night Raid member's eyes faded away before directing his attention back to him. "Gozuki the Black Wolf. That's your name, right? I'm guessing there's a reason you haven't finished me off."

"Tatsumi, was it? Your guess would be most correct" he answered, his attention mostly diverted towards the dish in the skillet. "That bounty on your girlfriend's head makes for a pretty good reason."

"And by tying me up and making me your hostage, you plan to lure her here somehow, right?", Tatsumi chuckled almost in a self-derisory fashion. "Considering we're no longer together, that plan won't do you much good."

"You think I'm taking you hostage, do you? Close, but no cigar." Gozuki pinched off a piece of the fried snake to taste it apparently, not at all concerned about the revelation he had just heard. "An old acquaintance of mine is supposed to meet me out here come sunrise. Has a handy device that's supposed to lead me right to her. All I've gotta do is hand you and Incursio over."

"_Me and Incursio? Who could he be talking about?_", Tatsumi thought, mentally rummaging through his brain for an answer.

"Hmm. Needs more salt", Gozuki said before pulling a salt shaker out of a bag he had on the ground and using it to season his dish.

"Esdeath is not exactly the type to go hiding from anybody, especially if it means shying away from a fight. You'd be a lot better off doing what you've been doing and looking for her directly instead of making deals with people."

This Black Wolf fellow pinched off another piece of the fried snake to taste it once more. "Mmm. A little more pepper shouldn't hurt. Yeah . . . am well aware of her immense appetite for thrill seeking, just as you both are well aware by now that I'm not to be trifled with. If what I've heard about her trump card is true, it'd be a pain in the ass to deal with in some random encounter. It'd be much easier to get the drop on her at my leisure."

"I guess I can't blame you for wanting the bounty on her head, but . . .", Tatsumi remarked before cryptically narrowing his eyebrows. A look that appeared to even give his captor pause as he finally directed his attention away his sizzling rattlesnake dish and fully on Tatsumi, curious as to what he was talking about. "You're making a serious mistake."

Gozuki promptly bit into a chunk of his fried rattlesnake. "Usually, when my targets tell me something like that, it's a sorry attempt on their part to talk me into letting them go. But you'd be surprised by just how much you can tell a lot about a man just by fighting him. And so there's no doubt in my mind that begging like that just isn't your style."

For a brief moment, Tatsumi's eyes widened at just how perceptive his captor truly was. "So then you believe me?"

"Not even remotely", the Black Wolf remarked, still chewing his food. He proceeded to turn and sit down in Tatsumi's direction. "You've simply given me grounds not to gag you or remove your tongue. My acquaintance is not due to arrive for another three hours, so we've got plenty of time to kill. Tell me: Does my so-called 'serious mistake' have anything to do with why you and Esdeath have been skipping around the continent for the past two months?"

To which the former assassin nodded. "It does."

"Then why don't we start from the very beginning and go from there. What were you and that woman doing in Bestimmung in the first place?"

* * *

_**. . . It all started when . . .**_

* * *

_Two months ago . . ._

It was the middle of the afternoon and two figures on a short canoe had been drifting towards a Bestimmung harbor. A canoe with several unusual features; the interior was comprised entirely of palm tree branches fastened together whereas, the exterior was comprised entirely of ice.

One of the figures was casually sitting on one side of the canoe with one leg crossed over the other. A figure who was none other than the illustrious former general of the Grand Empire's military, the Ice Queen herself, Esdeath. "You see, darling? I told you we wouldn't have a problem getting here without an air manta." And yet despite no longer having any official ties to the military she once served, she was still donned in her imperial general attire, excluding her trademark hat and long rapier; two items which she grudgingly had Tatsumi to thank for no longer having in her possession.

Speaking of the former Night Raid assassin, he was on the other side of the canoe, perched on its bow, full of upbeat youthful energy and gazing upon the port-town they were drifting towards. "You were right, but where is 'here' exactly?" Much like his companion, he too was donned in his most iconic attire; he was wearing his purple hoodie, his white assassin jacket slipped over it and the dormant Incursio safely secured in its sheath on his back.

"If memory serves me, Port Gavon to be precise. We're fortunate that Bestimmung has a very active trade route", she said, glancing towards a number of nearby merchant vessels with the Bestimmung insignia on their sails. "Once I spotted one of their ships, the rest was child's play."

It didn't take long for the pair to reach the port town's docks. Tatsumi eased himself out of the boat and onto the pier. And due to having sat on that boat for so long, he couldn't help but stretch his arms and legs out. Then, feeling as if he forgot something, a smile on his face, he turned around back towards the boat, leaned down and stretched one of his hands out in a gentleman-like fashion. "Where to next, navigator?"

There was a faint blush on Esdeath's cheeks. Whether it was due to her years of being a cold-blooded killer, a testament to her inexperience with receiving such affection or simply seeing even the slightest of affections coming from Tatsumi, it was a feeling she could never see herself fully adjusting to. Nevertheless, she fondly grabbed her companion's hand and let him gently pull her out of their boat. "Preferably someplace quiet . . . "

"You know what I meant!", Tatsumi exclaimed with his cheeks flustered.

"Always the tease, darling", the Ice Queen remarked with a soft chuckle. "We'll need a map or something. I've never actually been to Hertz and am only vaguely familiar with Bestimmung's interior geography."

Tatsumi glanced around the dock before spotting a nearby dockworker transferring goods and supplies out of the merchant vessels. "Excuse me", he said, politely approaching the man. "But we're trying to get to Hertz. How far is it away from this town?"

The dockworker scoffed, reserving most of his attention towards his task at hand. "Piss off you little . . ." But before he could finish his sentence, he felt a thumb and an index finger latched onto in his tongue with a vice-like grip. A feeling that sent shivers down his spine.

It was Esdeath and she didn't look too pleased with the dockworker's answer. "You will answer his question. But before you do, you will apologize for your impudence. And you will do so before I force feed you your tongue after I've ripped it out upon the count of five."

In one quick motion, Tatsumi swatted his companion's hand away from the dockworker's tongue; he pulled her away by said hand and promptly began power walking away much like a parent dragging their unruly child away after the embarrassing scene they caused in public. "Sorry about that!", he said, waving his free hand to the still frantic dockworker while walking away.

Having been accustomed to being a high ranking general for so long, Esdeath was fully and completely unaccustomed to anyone treating her in this manner, much less in open public. After five or six seconds of being dragged away, she snatched her hand out of her love's grasp. "What do you think you're doing?", she asked, the displeasure in her voice thunderous to a frightening degree.

"I could ask you the same question", Tatsumi responded, not at all intimidated as would be the case for almost anyone else on the opposing side of the Ice Queen's ire.

"Did you not hear what that filthy wretch said to you?"

"He's a jerk, but that doesn't exactly excuse ripping someone's tongue out."

"Hmph", she uttered as she folded her arms. "Any tongue capable of describing my Tatsumi in a such a manner deserves nothing less."

To which the Incursio wielder sighed, briefly even rubbing his face against the palm of his right hand. "Geeze. You're impossible sometimes."

Her irritation suddenly vanishing without a trace, the Ice Queen threw her arms around him while blushing in her typical school girl fashion; her embrace was full of such energy and enthusiasm that she even lifted him off the ground and spun around in a full circle. "And you remain adorable even when you're annoyed!"

"Looks _like those endless push ups she's been doing are really paying off_.", Tatsumi thought, wincing slightly at how tight this otherwise innocent hug was becoming. "_Don't remember her being able to squeeze this hard_."

"I have a marvelous idea, my love", Esdeath said, still holding her love in an intimate embrace and even rubbing one of her cheeks against one of his. "Let's go on a date!"

"A date? Talk about random. What brought this on?"

"You know how hard it is for me to stay mad at you, my dear!."

"But what about these last several weeks? When you think about it, we've been together constantly nonstop almost as if we've been on one big date."

'I'm talking about a real date, silly", she whimsically retorted before setting Tatsumi back down. "Come to think of it, we haven't been on a single one throughout the course of our relationship."

Not giving the turbulent encounter with the hostile dockworker another thought, the two began making their way further into this portside town and crossing a multitude of mercantile establishments ranging from butchers, fish markets, trinkets to general goods. Having spotted a bustling tavern, however, they decided to go inside, have a seat at one of the sets of dining booths near one of the windows and continue their conversation all the while.

"What about that merchant ship we ate on?", Tatsumi asked, reminiscing about those merchants that had rewarded him and Esdeath for saving them from pirates. "That was a date."

The Ice Queen shook her head, however, while maintaining a knowing smile. "Technically, no. We weren't a couple at the time. Besides, based on my research, that would've not constituted a date even if we had been a couple at that point."

"Your . . . research?", Tatsumi asked, arching his brow. "_She really goes out all with this stuff, doesn't she?_"

To which Esdeath responded while removing a small notebook from one of her pockets, "Since the day we've met, I've made sure to record a litany of qualitative observations of numerous couples I've spotted throughout the capital . . ."

"Quala-what?", Tatsumi interrupted, his demeanor similar to that of someone hearing a foreign language.

"Qualitative, my dear. As in relating to, measuring, or measured by the quality of something rather than its quantity. And using these other couples as a reference, I confirmed that real dates consist of activities such as dining together at the finest restaurants, attending the opera or theater alongside one another, ballroom dancing and occasionally strolling together in the park among other things."

"Yeah . . .", Tatsumi shrugged before rubbing the back of his head in a fidgeting fashion. "I'm not exactly on anyone's payroll right now, what with no longer being a member of Night Raid and all. Plus, all of those things are a little bit outside my price range. And by a little bit, I mean a LOT of bits."

"Not to worry",she retorted ever so boastfully. "When it comes to our love, money is no object That I can assure you."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm . . . but you aren't exactly employed either now that you're no longer a general. Which reminds me, why are you still wearing those clothes?", he noted, remarking on her military attire.

The Ice Queen sported a coy look in her eyes. "Tatsumi, dear, if you don't want me wearing them, then lets just find someplace nice and quiet already."

"You know what I meant!"

She let out a soft chuckle once more. "If we stumble across a suitable enough tailor, I'll consider it, but I've grown fond of this apparel over the years. It lets people immediately know my status in comparison to theirs. All that's missing is my trademark hat, no thanks to you of course."

Tatsumi was suddenly reminded of their duel in the Capital's palace courtyard and how he had inadvertently gusted the Ice Queen's hat off her head with the force of one his sword swings. "Sorry about that", he said with an embarrassed chuckle. "I guess I could make it up to you with a date, but there's still the money problem."

"Even before I joined the Grand Empire's imperial army, money has never been an obstacle I couldn't remedy. You leave that to me. For now, we'll focus on your quest. What happens next is up to you."

"Right", Tatsumi nodded with a sudden sense of self-assurance. "Which starts with figuring out how to get to Hertz. After that, I guess we'll head straight there."

To which Esdeath responded, her eyes gleaming with fascination. "The sooner the better. This Omega class beast you've told me about should at very least prove a decent warmup for our rematch."

Tatsumi chuckled, amused by his girlfriend's overt enthusiasm."So that's when you intend to-"

A cantankerous old shrew of a waitress had walked up to the pair, practically barking at them before Tatsumi could finish his sentence."We're not too keen on loitering around here. Are you two gonna order something or what?"

"With that attitude, I think I'll have a fresh head on a platter", Esdeath retorted, having sported a fiendish grin.

"Say what?", the elderly waitress responded, simultaneously digging the excess ear wax out of one of her ears.

"Uh, hey! I sure could go for some ice cream!", Tatsumi voiced, energetically trying to deescalate the sudden tension.

"What flavor?" the waitress asked as she penciled the order down on a small notepad.

"Chocolate for me! And vanilla and peppermint for my sweet hearted girlfriend with radiant blue hair", Tatsumi responded, forcefully laughing, as if begging the Ice Queen to let the waitress' rudeness slide.

And somehow, this worked, as Esdeath's temper had yet again disappeared without a trace and she was yet again blushing like a school girl. "You think my hair is radiant?"

"Whatever", the waitress remarked, rolling her eyes while holding her hand out. "That'll be 6 gold pieces."

"6 gold pieces for some ice cream?", the former assassin huffed before removing that amount from his pocket and handing it over. "Wow. Back in my hometown, you can get a whole cake for 6 gold pieces."

"Well you're not in your home town, son, so take it or leave it", the waitress said before walking away without giving Tatsumi's remark another thought. "

The waitress was just about to approach the kitchen to put in Tatsumi's order when a town guard walked into the tavern. Not in pursuit of an investigation or patrol of any sort, but rather to simply take a break from his duties, indicated by his decision to take a seat at the bar stool at the bar table near the front. "Afternoon, Agatha", he said, nodding in the elderly waitress' direction.

"A little early for you, eh Frank?", the waitress replied in a rather familial tone, not a hint of the rudeness she had in her back-in-forth with Tatsumi and Esdeath. "Any progress on the recent disappearances."

"I'm afraid not", the guard sighed. "10 missing people in the last month and the trail remains cold. Never leaves behind any evidence. Way too smart for it to be the work of a danger beast. Whoever is doing it has gotta be a pro."

"You're never gonna get that commendation you're wanting like that, Frank. Some mercenaries are sailing in tonight. I'm sure if you pay them some good money, they'll take care of it and you can try to take the credit afterwards."

The guard reached into his pocket and removed what appeared to be a gold piece three times the size of a regular gold piece and with a much higher grade of quality. "Do you know how much we had to spend the last time we had to resort to hiring mercenaries to solve a problem?"

The elderly waitress' mouth dropped wide open. "An entire plućque?!" Indeed, the piece of currency the guard held in his hand was known as a plućque. For hundreds of years, whether it was during peace or wartime, the Grand Empire, Bestimmung, Reispan and Ali Jinnah had all agreed to maintain a universal form of currency. A specially molded currency of gold coins everyone acknowledged as 'gold pieces.' But there were different kinds of gold pieces; a single gold piece was a regular specially molded gold coin referred to as a gold piece, but coins that were different in size and made of higher grade and quality were worth more. A tín, for example, were slightly larger than an ordinary gold piece, was made of a slightly higher quality of gold and was worth 50 gold pieces on its own. A silvát, on the other hand, was twice the size of an ordinary gold piece, was made of a much higher quality of gold and was worth 200 gold pieces on its own. And then there was the plućque; it was the coin most poor people would never see in an entire lifetime and was worth 5,000 gold pieces on its own.

"I'll be damned if I have to give this to some money grubbing mercenary", the guard scowled.

Unbeknowst to the Bestimmung pair, Tatsumi's eyes and ears were practically glued in their direction. With the talk of disappearances and danger beast, he couldn't help but listen. A fact the Ice Queen not only did not miss, but one she did not even appear to be surprised about. "You do know eavesdropping is considered rude, dear."

With an inquisitive look on his face, the former assassin directed his attention back towards his blue haired companion. "You heard them though. Something strange has been going on here lately."

Esdeath simply shrugged in response. "Right now, I'm sure that if you look hard enough, you'll find something strange occurring in the small East Reispan town of La Pasión. Perhaps we should go there as well."

"Ha ha. Very funny", Tatsumi sarcastically retorted while rolling his eyes.

"No need to get annoyed, my love", she replied with a soft giggle. "I'm just saying that this hero complex of yours is unhealthy. You already came here with a slated goal. Why not stick with that?"

Before Tatsumi could mouth an answer, he noticed someone standing at the booth all of the sudden. It was a little girl, she was no more than ten years old, she wore glasses and she had a blonde hair tied into a ponytail and blue eyes. And for some reason, she was staring at the former assassin without uttering a word. Several moments of awkward silence passed before Tatsumi decided to smile and cordially speak up. "Um . . . hi?"

The little girl did not say anything in response, but instead continued to stare.

"My name is Tatsumi. What's your name?", he said, waving one of his hands in an introductory fashion.

"Why do they look like that?, the little girl asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"Oh these?", he responded, gesturing towards his two eyes. Indeed, as strange a place as a world with danger beast and imperial arms might be, red eyes with cross slit black pupils at the center wasn't something most people would consider ordinary. "It's a pretty long story."

"Are you a magician?", the little girl queried, her eyes still beaming with curiosity.

To which the former assassin chuckled. "I wish! I'd definitely start with making some more gold pieces appear."

"I like you. You're funny", the little girl giggled. "My name is Cornelia. You must be lucky to have a big sister."

The Ice Queen suddenly cleared her throat in a passive aggressive attention drawing fashion. "I'm not his sister. I'm his girlfriend."

"Oooooh!", Cornelia realized, a light blush on her cheeks. "But you're taller than him. And boyfriends are supposed to be taller than girlfriends."

"To be fair . . .", Tatsumi remarked, grinning and rubbing the back of his head. "She is older than me."

"Something as meager as one's height has got nothing to do with love, little girl", Esdeath retorted, clearly on the defensive.

"Ooooh!", Cornelia responded, putting her hands on her cheeks. "That's so romantic!"

"Cora, are you bothering customers again?", said an approaching figure. It was a young boy, he was no more than thirteen years old and he had curly blonde hair and blue eyes and was a few inches taller than the little girl. Moreover, the boy had a short-bow and a full quiver of arrows strapped to his back. He walked up to Cornelia and immediately began grinding his knuckles on her head in a noogie-like fashion. "You know how granny Agatha feels about that!"

"Owe! Cut it out, Rolf!", the little girl retorted.

"Don't mind her, folks", the young boy said said, diverting his attention to Tatsumi and Esdeath. "The names Rolf and this here is my pain in the neck little sister. She won't be bothering you anymore."

Tatsumi smiled at the scene, as if remarking back on his own adolescence. "Thanks, but she wasn't bothering us."

Cornelia promptly stuck her tongue out in her older brother's direction. "You see?"

Rolf didn't pay her any mind however. Instead, he was more interested in the item holstered to Tatsumi's back."That's a pretty nice sword you got there, mister. Are you a mercenary?"

The former assassin shook his head. "Just a traveler passing through town."

"That's good to hear!", Rolf sighed in relief. "With the notice board as scarce as it is these days, there just isn't enough work to go around."

"Danger beast have never ran as rampant up here. A testament to northern vigilance", Esdeath interjected with a hint of pride sparkling in her eyes. "Speaking of which, where can we find a blacksmith?"

Rolf nodded his head and pointed out the window in a direction further into town. "Schmied's Blacksmithing! You'll want to go three blocks up. It's right across the stables."

"Good. It just doesn't feel right walking around without a rapier at my side."

Before the conversation could go any further, the guard who had been sitting at a bar-stool had gotten up and approached the group of four, only now with a cup of coffee in one of his hands. "That's enough chitchat. Get back to your post, Rolf. I don't need you getting shown up by those damn mercenaries."

"Yes sir!", Rolf said with a firm salute before exiting the tavern.

The guard then turned to the little girl. "By the time I get back to the barracks, those errands better be finished and those floors better be spotless! Do you hear me?!"

Cornelia gave a quick salute as well before sprinting out of the tavern. "Yes sir!"

"Good for nothing kids", the guard cursed under his breath before even noticing Tatsumi and Esdeath. "Wait a minute. You there with the blue hair. Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

"Possibly", she shrugged her shoulders with disinterest and uncertainty. "I've seen hundreds of thousands of people in the last five years alone. You'll have to be more specific."

"I know I've seen you somewhere", the guard rubbed his chin in a ruminating fashion before making his way towards the exit. "Hmph. In the meantime, be sure to keep a lookout for any suspicious behavior. We believe there's been a serial killer on the loose lately."

Just as the guard had left, Agatha, the cantankerous old waitress returned to Tatsumi and Esdeath's booth with two ice cream cones each with two scoops stacked on them. "There you go", she said, handing both of them their respective orders before walking away.

It only took one lick from his cone for Tatsumi crimson eyes to widen like that of a kid on the playground. A sight that prompted a few giggles from the Ice Queen before she began licking her own. "You see? Everything is better up north. Even ice cream."

"This stuff is amazing!", he slurped, licking away the chocolate scoops faster and faster.

"Careful, love", Esdeath said with concern in her voice, raising her hand as if to say slow down. "At that rate, you'll get . . ."

"Arrggh!"

The Ice Queen cringed her eyes, as if all too familiar with the feeling. " . . . brain freeze."

It wasn't long until the pair eventually left the tavern. Following Rolf's directions, they headed towards the blacksmith's shop that had been referenced. Tatsumi had finished his ice cream cone whereas Esdeath was still licking on hers. As they approached closer to their destination, they could hear the distinct sounds of a hammer hitting an anvil and smell the distinct smell of the thick industrial stench of coal dust and molten iron. Across the horse stables Rolf referenced, they noticed a modest blacksmithing shop with the words 'Schmied's Blacksmithing' carved and displayed on the sign at the entrance.

The pair proceeded to enter the blacksmith's shop, taking ample notice of its dusty and brimming interior upon making their way inside. A wide variety of weapons stood hanging on the walls; from battle axes to halberds, this shop was well equipped. Behind the counter was a short and scruffy old man with a thick white beard who appeared to be preoccupied with smithing a longsword; no doubt Schmied himself. Hearing people drawing near, he immediately ceased his work and turned his attention to what otherwise appeared to be two new customers. "Schmied's Forging at your service."

Esdeath took a step closer to the counter. "I'm looking to get a long rapier. Custom made of course with pure orichalcum."

The blacksmith's eyes widened, his eyes focused on the Ice Queen's attire. "Had I known a member of the Grand Imperial military would be gracing my little shop with her presence today, I would have restocked my materials."

"Well?", the Ice Queen said, no intention of correcting him about her status in the Grand Imperial military. "Can you make a rapier to my specifications or not?"

"Mmmm . . . no can do", the blacksmith responded while stroking his beard. "We don't have any orichalcum out in these parts and I'd need to do a special order. You'll have to settle for iron for now."

"Iron?!" Without even a moments notice. Esdeath dropped her ice cream cone on the floor and conjured a razor sharp icicle out of thin air and held the tip end inches away from the elderly blacksmith's neck. "What kind of backwater shop is this?"

"Take it easy, ma'am", Schmied replied, nervous sweat drops increasingly running down his brow. "You just aren't in the right town."

Tatsumi let out at a frustrated sigh before gently tugging at his girlfriend's free arm. "It's not a big deal. We'll just stop at the right town."

Esdeath, however, appeared undeterred with her regal yet threatening posture and kept her eyes locked on the blacksmith, "This country is well known for its orichalcum deposits. No one swindles me and lives the tell the tale."

"But I'm not swindling you! Honest!", the blacksmith exclaimed, fearfully shaking his head. "Orichalcum is among the rarest of the rarest metals in the world. I don't have any in stock. Ask the smiths in cities next to orichalcum deposits."

"Orichalcum deposits?" A lightbulb swiftly went off in Tatsumi's head just then; he recalled the fight he had with the deceased General Budo months ago and how he had used his imperial arm to manipulate the traces of orichalcum in the ground to form a makeshift set of orichalcum armor. "Wait a minute, this actually works out just fine!"

Her gaze still locked on Schmied, curiosity nonetheless gleamed in her eyes at she heard her love's remarks. "What are you talking about?"

"Hertz has orichalcum deposits. Lets just get you a new sword there. I'm sure you can make due with an iron rapier until then."

Upon hearing this, the Ice Queen let out a frustrated sigh before rubbing her face in the palm of her free hand. Then, with her eyes still locked on the blacksmith, she said "Count yourself lucky my tenacious boyfriend is present or else I assure you this conversation would've ended much differently."

"Um . . . yes, but of course!", Schmied stammered. "And as a token of good faith, I'll make the rapier tempered at a discount rate of 350 gold pieces. How does that sound?"

Esdeath firmly narrowed her eyes, refusing to pacify the blacksmith's conciliatory tone, "How long will it take?"

To which Schmied replied, "I should be done by tomorrow afternoon."

Having no further patience for this discussion, the Ice Queen turned away immediately and began making her way towards the exit. "Lets go, Tatsumi."

With the utmost politeness, the former assassin nodded his head towards the blacksmith before making his way towards the exit as well. "Sorry about that. We'll be back tomorrow afternoon."

"Your business is most appreciated!", Schmied replied before returning back to the longsword he had been smithing.

The moment Tatsumi walked out of the shop, he immediately noticed his girlfriend sporting an ice-like glare of disapproval. "What?", he asked, inquiring to whatever he surely had done wrong.

"You realize you let him swindle us, right?"

The former assassin let out a soft chuckle. "350 gold pieces is a pretty good deal for a newly forged and tempered rapier. Especially considering we're down to 10 gold pieces."

"I'm not talking about that", Esdeath replied, simultaneously beginning to walk further into town. "I'm talking about the fact that he had orichalcum and that you passed up on getting it out of him."

Tatsumi began walking alongside his companion, "What makes you think he had orichalcum?"

"We're in a portside town with merchant ships going in and out. You'd have to be a fool to run a blacksmith shop without having even the slightest trace of metal this country is best known for. He was trying to deceive us."

"Even if you're right, we have nowhere near enough money to buy the kind of rapier you're looking for."

The Ice Queen's lips curled into a boastful smirk. "You saw the fear in his eyes. I would have gotten it out of him one way or another.

"You know I wouldn't just sit idly by and let that happen", he replied with a slight shrug.

"If I didn't know better, I would say that was a challenge", she laughed. "Are we really about to fight again because of the likes of Schmied the swindling blacksmith?"

"No", a half smile cracked on the Incursio wielder's face. "Something tells me you don't intend to waste something as important to you as our rematch on something so petty."

"How right you are, my love. When we fight again, it'll be in someplace more refined. A place with a lot more . . .", she paused, whimsically searching for just the right word, ". . . grandeur."

Tatsumi raised one of his eyebrows. "Yeah . . . I'm just going to nod my head and **pretend** to know what you mean by that."

"Either way, we've got to come up with a better way of sorting out our disagreements. Wasting a perfectly good battle over the likes of Schmied the Blacksmith doesn't exactly sit well with me. I'd much rather savor our duel for a more intimate setting."

"_Intimate setting?_", he thought, shuddering as he pictured a chibi-version of Esdeath glomping on a chibi version of himself.

"Not remotely what I meant, but I can arrange that too if you prefer!", the Ice Queen winked.

"At any rate, I'd rather not have to fight over something like that either. If you've got something else in mind, I'm all ears."

"How about a wager? ", she smirked like a cheshire cat, her gaze having shifted to the town notice board up ahead.

"What are you up to?", he sighed, realizing she was scheming at something he wasn't going to look forward to. At this point, he was well enough acquainted with his Ice Queen to know when the wheels in her head were turning.

"Your ceaseless hero-complex aside, you do raise a valid point. We are short on money; 10 gold pieces won't even fetch us a nice meal, much less a decent rapier. Therefore, why don't we make things interesting?" She promptly walked up to the notice board, gazing upon a couple of contracts involving danger beasts outside of town, the reward money ranging from meager to modest sums of gold pieces. "Whoever has the most gold pieces by 11:00 pm tonight is the winner."

Tatsumi walked up to the notice board himself, his eyes pouring over each contract. As the young Rolf had remarked in the tavern earlier, there wasn't much work to go around, but there were a few contracts present nonetheless. The beasts up for grabs were Class Three danger beasts, wanted for meager sums of gold. Lower on the scale than their Class Two, Class One, Supreme Class and Ultra Class counterparts, but nonetheless threatening in their own right. These beasts were best known for preying on small cattle and small children. Though not physically imposing in their own right, they're all best known for targeting unsuspecting prey. Ox-spiders, for example, would spray highly inconspicuous webbing near bushes and abduct anything that waltzed by. Larceners, for example, were vulture like creatures known for building their nests near children's play areas and swooping down and abducting them before parents or teachers were any the wiser. Despite their danger, they too were almost never hunted by professionals given that an armed ordinary human could take care of them with enough caution. "One gold piece for an ox-spider? 2 gold pieces for a blood snail? Seriously? We may as well go offer to clean the dishes at the tavern or something. We could catch ten of those each and it still wouldn't be enough for supplies, much less your new sword."

The Ice Queen was not dissuaded however. "Look at the contract in the middle, dear."

Tatsumi shifted his gaze away from the insignificant Class three beast contracts and to the contract fastened to the center of the notice board. It was there that he saw a Class One danger beast contract up for grabs. And not for the meager amount of 1 or 2 gold pieces either. "560 gold pieces?" The beast was listed as being an Ice Wolf; a menacing creature in its own right, but a creature Tatsumi nonetheless had no difficulty dealing with the last time he was in Bestimmung. "Had I known Ice-Wolves were worth that much, I would've bagged each one of the ones we took care of the last time I was up here."

"So do we have a deal?", she chuckled.

The former assassin cringed for a moment, wondering as the thought of losing this wager sprouted in his mind."Do I even want to know what happens if you win?"

"If I win? Ha! **When** I win, I get to make one request. And no matter what it is, you must agree to it."

"Fine", he huffed, "but it can't involve killing, stealing or otherwise doing something a bad guy would do."

"Fair enough", she playfully winked. "It's a deal."

"Alright, then it's only fair that if I win, you have to do something I want you to do."

"Naturally. Now then, let the games commence."

* * *

_**. . . A friend of mine was also traveling . . .**_

* * *

Elsewhere, near the mid-western border of the Grand Empire was another port-side town by the name of Port Ranpor. For a port, it was the polar opposite of the one Tatsumi and Esdeath had just entered. The shops were sparse and the trade was just about nonexistent. Thanks to the former Prime Minister's greed and corruption, it was much like many of the towns outside the capital; it was an impoverished setting full of simple villagers making their living off the land and sea nearby.

Yet unlike under Honest's reign, sparks of new life were breathing into the port. Numerous soldiers from the capital could be seen assisting the villagers with the construction of new infrastructure. Tons and tons of the finest plywood had been carried via horse carriage directly from the capital. Masons could be seen hard at work binding bricks and stones together. Craftsman could be seen building various doors, walls, beds and chairs.

At the dock were three boats. Two of the boats were imperial warships with additional soldiers carting down supplies no doubt from the capital. The remaining boat was a large cruise ship, identical to the one Tatsumi and Bulat had faced the now deceased Three Beasts trio on. And from the looks of things, this ship was just about to set sail.

"Sorry about the last minute notice", Run said, sitting at a luxury platinum colored booth inside one of the cruise ship's many decks. The booth he had been sitting in was one of many in a long row of booths aligned against the wall. A continuous glass wall that allowed passengers to simultaneously appreciate the outside view.

"Don't apologize!", a man in a black tuxedo responded, his voice filled with enthusiasm. And based on the appearance of his skin complexion and brunette facial hairs, middle aged no doubt. "Any envoy of his majesty's is always welcome on my ships!"

"Ships?", Run asked, taking quick note of the plural. "This isn't your only cruise?"

"You heard me correctly", the man laughed, still enthusiastic. "Thanks to the tax reduction his majesty recently imposed on commercial travel, I've decided to widen my enterprise. Give it a year or two, but I bet ports like this will become an excellent spot for tourism."

"Yeah yeah, that's all well and good . . .", Leone yawned, sitting across from Run; her head was rested on her right hand and her eyes were half-open. "Say Mr. Matthews, where's your booze?"

"Ah yes. Give me a moment. I'll have someone from the bar bring you a menu and let you pick from our finest champagne."

" A whole menu?!", she squealed, her boredome dispersing in an instant. "I'll have one of everything! And don't worry about bringing a glass, just bring me-"

Before she could utter another word, Run had slapped one of his hands onto her mouth, much to her annoyance, leaving nothing but mumbles to be heard. "Actually, don't worry about bringing the menu out. My subordinate and I will settle for two apple juices."

"Right away, Sir Run", Mr. Matthews replied while giving a polite bow. "And as soon as the maid is done preparing your suite, I'll have someone bring you your room keys."

"Thanks again", Run smiled, his hand still pressed over Leone's mouth and the sounds of annoyed mumbling still ensuing. As soon as the ship's owner was beyond an earshot of the two, he removed his hand before letting out a sigh of his own.

"Hey what's the big idea here? Can't a girl get a drink?"

"I can't have your drunkenness getting in the way of our operation."

"You really think I'm gonna get THAT drunk?"

"Hmph", Run folded his arms contemplatively, "Need I remind you why you got conscripted into Night Watch in the first place?"

"That still doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to have even a drop until we get off the boat!"

"No one said anything about having only one drop. If you had some self-control, this wouldn't even be an issue."

"What part of being a covert assassin don't you get? I'm all about self-control!"

"I see", he smirked. "So it was Night Raid that taught you how to drunkenly wreck taverns left and right."

As Leone was about to mouth a response, a fancily dressed waiter walked up to the two with the two glasses of apple juice resting on a tray. "Compliments of Mr. Matthews", he said before setting the cups down on the table and walking away.

Run lifted his glass and extended it out in a celebratory gesture. "Cheers."

Leone was anything but pleased however; she turned her nose up even. "You know I'm not drinking that, right?"

While taking a sip out of his glass, the ex-Jaegar notice someone approaching their booth - prompting him to set his glass down. "Can I help you?"

It was a young and petite woman with considerably tanned skin, blonde bunned up hair and a pair of green eyes. What's more, she looked professional, given that her eyes behind a pair of business glasses and that she was wearing a gray business formal slim long sleeve blazer. "Hi! Karrie Overwood. I'm with the Grand Times Newspaper and I'm in the process of writing an article about the recent events in our country. I was hoping we could have a chat."

"An interview huh?", Run openly mused. "Sorry, but I'm not really at liberty to talk about anything that will in any way compromise the integrity of our national security."

"You don't have to worry", Karrie smiled. "If there's a question you aren't at liberty to answer, just say so and I'll move on."

"Very well", he shrugged. "I suppose we do have some time. Have a seat next to my subordinate here."

With a nod of her head, Karrie scooted next to Leone, prompting the feral ex-assassin to whimsically whisper into her ear. "If you go get me something from the bar, I'll answer whatever you want."

"Leone!", he glared with disapproval.

"Yeah yeah yeah. Never a dull moment with you, boss", Leone replied, her words dripping with sarcasm.

"First question", Karrie said, pulling out a pen and a small notepad from her pocket. "What do you think of his majesty's decision to use a significant portion of the imperial treasury on improving the infrastructure of towns like Port Ranpor?"

"Well Ms. Overwood, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link; a concept the previous Prime Minister never seemed to grasp. His majesty understands that he is a servant to his citizens and that he cannot oppress them with absurdly high taxes. His majesty sees his current budgetary practices as an investment towards his people's future."

"That's not how a majority of the nobles in capital see it. They say they've paid most of the taxes and that his majesty is merely redistributing their money to people who haven't earned it. What do you say to that?"

"I say the nobles have a strange sense of humor since the very concept of nobility involves unearned privileges just because you happen to be born into a certain family or happen to have gained just the right amount of favor with a corrupt despot."

"You mean former Prime Minister Honest? That leads me to my second question. His majesty has had Honest arrested and imprisoned based on his many atrocities, but does that really absolve his majesty from the role he played in carrying out Honest's atrocities?"

To which Run replied, "His majesty has taken his role in the chaos Honest caused quite personally which is part of the reason he has taken so much action to right those wrongs by doing everything he can to serve the people."

"And again, there are those in the capital who don't share that viewpoint. Far be it from me to take such a stance, but some groups are saying that the old Prime Minister was able to use his majesty like a puppet and that the current Prime Minister is no different. That just like Honest, she too is merely using his majesty to further her own political ambitions. What do you make of that?"

Run shook his head in polite disagreement, "I'm aware of those rumors, but they don't really have any merit. His majesty will appear in person at the upcoming Intercontinental Peace Summit. The press will be invited to attend, so you're welcome to judge then and there for yourself."

"Third question: What about Prime Minister Najenda? Just a day before she became the Prime Minister, she was a high ranking member of the Revolutionary Army and led a group of terrorist known as Night Raid."

"Assassins", Leone chimed in. "Not terrorists. Assassins. Get it right, kay?

"Regardless, is it a really wise decision to allow a former . . . assassin-leader to immediately have the second highest ranking position in the empire?"

"There's been a great deal of misinformation about Prime Minister Najenda, her role in some revolutionary army and whatnot. Again, judge for yourself. You'll have the opportunity to address this subject and others at the upcoming peace summit", Run smirked. "Putting the nobles aside, the people love her."

"Fair enough. Fourth question: Lets talk about someone people don't love. Former General Esdeath. Where is she?"

"I have no idea", Run shrugged once again.

"Weren't you a former member of the Jaegers. Second-in-command I believe. Surely you would know."

"Nope . . .", he chuckled. ". . . I haven't the slightest idea."

"How is it that she just up and disappeared on the exact same day Najenda became the Prime Minister?"

"That's confidential information I'm afraid."

"Can you tell me anything about what happened the day she disappeared?"

"That's also confidential. Sorry", Run said, again shrugging.

"Fifth question: What are you doing out here on this cruise ship? Don't you have more important business to be doing back in the capital?"

"The Prime Minister has taken notice of the tireless efforts I have made in helping to implement his majesties new policies and insisted that I take a sabbatical."

"A sabbatical?", Leone chimed with faux indignation, her lips curling into a mischievous grin. If her new boss was gonna deny her some liquor, she was going to make it worth her while. "That's no way to refer to our little getaway here, honey."

"Honey?" Run replied, doing his best to remain nonchalant, his teeth grinding notwithstanding.

Ms. Overwood took a look at Leone, then Run, then Leone, then Run once more before giggling aloud. "Oh. I see. You two are . . ."

"Fiancés!", Leone shouted with enthusiasm

* * *

_**. . . We ventured into the woods . . .**_

* * *

Back in Bestimmung, the sun had just set and Tatsumi was perched high up in a snow covered oak tree a little less than a mile outside of Port Gavon's city-gates. He was in a forest chocked full of wild life, ranging from squirrels, to owls, to deer. But despite his best efforts, he didn't spot a single danger beast. An outcome in complete contrast to his last visit in this country; back when he had taken down an class one ice rhino, class one ice-wolves, a supreme class spawn of Cyaegha and a supreme class Headless Hunter. Having faced and conquered all of those threats in the past, he had come into this forest expecting to easily fulfill enough danger beast contracts to win Esdeath's bet. But it wasn't that simple.

"_It's getting late_", he sulked, slowly having come to accept that he probably wouldn't be able to fulfill any danger beast contracts at the rate he was going. With one flip, he leapt out of the tree, tumbling mid air to break his fall as he hit the ground. "_I figured if I stayed high up in one spot, I'd spot something eventually. But I guess it's not gonna be that simple._"

Tatsumi began making his way out of the forest area and a onto cobbled pathway out in the open - the pathway lined and lit with street lanterns. "_I figured all that time being an assassin would give me some kind of edge in tracking this thing down, but no such luck. Looks like hunting takes a different set of skills entirely_."

He rummaged through his pockets, hoping to find out that he had more gold pieces on him than he initially believed. But true to his memory, what he found was a meager 10 gold pieces. "Dammit. The one time I'm flat broke. Maybe if I wash some dishes at that tavern or something, we'll at least get enough gold pieces to afford a room at the inn."

Before he could take another step further, he heard the pitter-pattering of footsteps on the cobbled ground from behind him. With his guard being up, he swiftly reached over his shoulder and rested his right hand on Incursio's sheath before turning around. "Oh. It's just you."

The one approaching Tatsumi was none other than Rolf, the young archer from earlier. "It's not safe to be out here this late by yourself."

"Thanks for the concern, but I think I'll manage. What about you though? Aren't you a little too young to be out here by yourself?"

"Patrolling Port Gavan's perimeter is my job!", the young boy proclaimed with pride sparkling in his eyes. "Whether it's sunrise or midnight, no one gets around the perimeter without me knowing about it!"

Tatsumi looked around the woodland scene, almost as if to wonder if his lack of success at this little hunting expedition was result of this young boy's vigilance, "With you around, I don't see why this town even needs a notice board."

"So that's what you're doing out here?", Rolf laughed, instantly having pieced everything together. "Wish I could take the credit for it, but danger beasts have been getting more scarce around here lately."

"I figured as much", the former assassin sighed. "I guess we'll have to find some other way to make money."

"Well hold on a minute", Rolf replied, rubbing his chin as if to openly pontificate. "Which danger beast were you looking to catch?"

"The notice board mentioned a class one Ice Wolf worth 560 gold pieces."

"Hmm. Ice wolf. Ice wolf. Class one ice wolf", the young archer muttered and continued rubbing his chin, before looking as if a light bulb had gone off in his head. "Yeah, I just might be able to help you out with that."

"Really?"

"Yep! There's an old barn a couple of miles northwest from here. Over the past couple of days of my patrol, I've been hearing a creature scavenging around there at night, but since that's technically outside Port Gavin's perimeter, I haven't checked it out yet, but it's probably the class one ice wolf."

The look on Tatsumi's face was nothing short of gracious as he shook Rolf's hand. "Thank you so much! If it's not too much trouble, do you mind taking me to this barn?"

"I don't mind, but don't you think we should go get your companion first? Class one beasts are pretty strong after all."

"I've fought class one ice wolves before. One alone won't be a problem!"

Rolf looked upon the former assassin with sheer fascination and awe. "Really? You must be pretty strong! I can't wait to see you in action."

"Just sit back and enjoy the show!", Tatsumi remarked, chuckling and rubbing his finger under his nose.

"OH ROLF!", yelled a quickly approaching voice. The former assassin and the young archer turned in the direction of the town, only to see a familiar young girl dashing in their direction.

Rolf rolled his eyes and buried his face into his palm. "Oh great, it's my annoying sister. Lets just go ahead and run off before she mucks things up like usual."

Tatsumi paid no mind to the frustrated siblings' crude remark, instead politely waving towards the little girl. "Hello again!"

"Hi there, Mr. Tatsumi!", Cornelia cheerfully exclaimed, finally in walking distance. "What are you and my brother doing out here?"

"None of your bee's-wax, Cora. Go back to the barracks where you belong."

"I'm just bringing you your dinner, jerk!", she said before showing him a brown paper sack lunch bag. "It's not my fault you've been showing up late to the messhall lately!"

"Okay okay", Rolf retorted in exasperation, snatching what was presumably his dinner out from his sister's hands. "Now get outta here. We're busy."

"Wait a minute! You two are doing something fun out here, aren't you?", Cornelia pouted. "Why can't I join in?"

Rolf rolled his eyes. "Because a crybaby like you is only gonna get in the way!"

"It's no big deal", Tatsumi interjected, still paying no heed to Rolf's disdain for his sister's antics. Rather, he couldn't help but smile fondly upon her. The former assassin wouldn't admit it, but it felt nostalgic being the intermediary between two quarreling siblings again. A scene right out of his childhood. A scene right out of the days before he had joined Night Raid all those months ago. "She can come along."

Cornelia promptly leapt for joy upon hearing this. "Yes! Thank you!"

"Awe, c'mon", Rolf protested. "She's never even held a weapon, much less been in a fight. The only thing she's even been good for is cleaning the barracks!"

"That's not true!", the young girl retorted before sticking her tongue out in her brother's direction. "I've been in plenty of fights! You've just never seen them!"

To which the older sibling snickered. "Yeah right."

"Settle down you two. If we're going to catch this danger beast, we'll need to work together", Tatsumi said, still grinning with nostalgia in his eyes. He reassuringly placed his hands on both of their heads before adding, "Rolf: I'll need you to act a scout; lead me to our ice wolf and make sure the perimeter is secure. Can I count on you to do that?"

"Yes sir!", the the older sibling nodded enthusiastically.

"Cornelia: I'll need you to watch my flank. In my experience, these ice wolves usually travel in groups, so we might end up dealing with more than just one. Keep watch at a safe distance and let me know if you see anything strange."

"Roger!", the younger sibling nodded, albeit with a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. "I'll do my best!"

Tatsumi pumped his right fist into the air, "That's what I like to hear! Lets go!"

With that, all three of them began traversing further away from the port with Rolf at the lead. They traveled on the cobbled road for about a mile before breaking off the beaten path and back in the snow-covered forest. And to Tatsumi's surprise, there was still no sign of any danger beast. The lack of class one types and above was to be expected; the higher up in rank, the fewer beasts there were in number. That was the case no matter which country one traveled to. But to not see any danger beasts whatsoever? Not even the likes of which even a child would be able to easily dispose of was unusual to the former assassin. He recalled the comment Esdeath had made earlier in the tavern in regards to "northern vigilance", wondering whether this country was simply better at peacekeeping than the Grand Empire. He almost caught himself thinking that Bestimmung wouldn't be a bad place to live in, only to quickly put such thoughts to rest upon recalling his prior experiences with this country's cultural customs.

As they reached what appeared to be their destination, Tatsumi noticed a decrepit looking barn in the midst of a small open area in the woods. Just from outward appearances alone, the barn looked as if no one had so much as set foot within its interior in decades. And sure enough, as he walked closer, he could hear something rummaging around on the inside, huffing and grunting every couple of seconds or so.

"Ssshhh", Rolf placed his index finger over his lips before carefully treading around the barn's exterior. Having seen nothing lying in wait, he then walked back towards Tatsumi before giving a firm salute. "Perimeter secured."

Tatsumi gave a thumbs-up sign while reaching for Incursio's hilt. "Leave the rest to me."

"Wait", Rolf hurriedly interrupted. "Even though I checked around the barn, we don't know for sure what's inside. The very least I can do is do a little reconnaissance on the inside."

Tatsumi felt himself on verge of mouthing an immediate objection. He had faced multiple Ice-Wolves the last time he had been in this country and one alone certainly wasn't enough to merit such caution. With but one swing of his sword, he could end this entire excursion in an instant. And yet it was perhaps this eagerness in the two siblings' eyes and the sense of nostalgia that he was feeling that gave him pause. Rolf especially. To Tatsumi, this was but a mere run-of-the mill encounter with a danger beast. But to the two children, it seemed like it was a full blown mission to them. "Alright, go on ahead. But if something goes wrong, immediately shout for help. Don't engage. Understand?"

"Will do", Rolf again nodded his head before going back around the barn, this time for the purposes of sneaking inside.

As soon as her older brother was out of sight, Cornelia turned to the former assassin, as if feeling the need to get something off her chest. "Um, Mr. Tatsumi?"

Tatsumi sighed, feeling as if the other sibling were about to make a request similar to her brother's. "Don't tell me you'd like to go inside as well."

Cornelia shook her head. "No, it's not that. I . . .", she stammered. ". . . have a bit of a confession to make. And you can't tell my brother."

"Okay", he replied, confounded by the sudden tone the young girl was taking. "What do you want to tell me?"

"You see, the thing is . . .", she continued stammering. "I've never actually been in a fight, much less done anything like what I'm doing now."

To which the former assassin chuckled. "Yeah, I kind of figured that."

"What gave me away?"

Tatsumi crouched down in front of the young girl before resting one of his hands on one of her shoulders. "When I was your age, I may not have had siblings, but I had the closest thing you could call a brother and sister and so I know what it's like. Getting on each other's nerves. Trying to show off in front of each other. I've been through all of it."

"But why does he have to be such a jerk? We used to play every day. But ever since father assigned him to guard duty on the city limits, it's as if this stuff is all he cares about. "

"Your father? Was he the guard who stopped by in the tavern earlier?"

Cornelia nodded her head. "He's the captain of the Port Gavin guards."

"From what I gather, your brother takes a lot of pride in his work. Don't hold that against him. He might seem hard to deal with, but something tells me that deep down, he loves you with all of his heart.."

"He sure has a hard way of showing it", she continued to stammer, sadness in her voice. "I just wish he wouldn't act like I'm useless. Like I can't do anything on my own."

"That's the real reason you wanted to come all of the way here, isn't it?"

She nodded her head.

"That's where he's wrong then", Tatsumi smiled with a cheerful look in his eyes. "I meant what I said: I'm counting on you to watch my back, Cornelia."

"Call me, Cora. And . . . I . . . I won't let you down!", she again stammered, this time with her cheeks blushing red.

At that very moment, a loud crash could be heard from inside the barn. A crash that was quickly followed by Rolf screaming "HELP!"

Tatsumi wasted no time charging straight through the barns front doors with his sword hand readily clenched on Incursio's hilt. And despite being an abandoned the barn, the interior didn't actually look all that rundown. There were plenty of cobwebs all around for sure, but there were still tools on the workbench, crates and bags of grain tucked away in a corner and not a spec of accumulated dust in sight, not even on the pine wooden floors. Needless the say, the state of the barn wasn't the former assassin's top priority at the moment. It was the young boy he had allowed to enter the barn before him. And the very moment Tatsumi had made it inside, he saw Rolf on the floor on the other side of the barn with multiple crates piled on top of him and with his bow and arrows lying in front of him. "What happened?"

To which the young archer replied, a sense of frustration in his voice. "Dammit. I was looking around for the danger beast and all of these crates fell on me all of the sudden. Can you get me out?"

Cornelia quickly dashed into the barn herself, only to immediately spot her brother as well. "Rolf?! Rolf! Are you okay?"

"Dammit Cora!", Rolf snarled. "Get out of here! You'll only get in the way!"

"Forget it, Rolf! I'm helping you whether you like it or not!"

Tatsumi walked all the way up to the young archer only to promptly begin removing the crates off his back. "You should be more careful. An old barn like this can't be all that sturdy." As he had removed the last crate, however, within but the briefest of instants, he felt chills tingling up his spine. Perhaps it was the experience he gained in having been killed an unspekable amount of times before he had fought his way out of Incursio's mental realm that time, but the former assassin intuitively knew something was not right about this encounter.

Without warning, Rolf suddenly and miraculously lifted himself out of the remaining crates that had been covering him, grabbed one of the arrows that had been in front of him by the shaft and thrusted it towards Tatsumi's throat. And based on its trajectory, the arrow was heading for the former assassin's carotid artery.

Before the arrow could reach its destination, however, Tatsumi had promptly seized the young archer's wrist. His eyes calmly narrowing, he asked the boy, "Who are you and what have you done to Rolf?"

To which the young archer laughed, his tone of voice glazed with a hint of malevolence. "Impressive, human. I knew something was special about you the minute I saw you in the tavern earlier. You may be wearing human skin, but you reek of us."

Cornelia looked confounded and began walking towards her sibling. "Rolf? Big brother? Is that you?"

"Stay back, Cora!", Tatsumi exclaimed. "I don't know what this thing is, but your brother is not himself right now. Something is controlling him."

"Poor Cora", it said in derisive wicked laughter. "It would've been so much more convenient had you not come in here. No one would ever connect the dots had a mere stranger gone missing, but you too? Oh well. With this one as my newest host, perhaps I won't need to hide anymore. I can feast upon the entire town in peace"

"I'll ask you one more time", Tatsumi said, his grip on the young archer's arm tightening. "Who are you and what have you done to Rolf?"

"Rolf has served his purpose just as you'll do in good time."

With one of his hand's still gripped around the young archer's wrist, Tatsumi grabbed Incursio's hilt with his free-hand."Alright. We'll just do this the old fashioned way." As he was about to remove Incursio from its hilt, however, something terribly wrong immediately became apparent to him. Incursio was . . . stuck. It wouldn't move; it wouldn't budge out of its hilt. And it wasn't just Incursio. As a matter of fact, Tatsumi's entire body felt that way. It was only then that Tatsumi had realized that some kind of 'ooze' was traveling out of Rolf's clothes, to his arm that Tatsumi had latched onto to, to Tatsumi's sword. And just as Tatsumi had tried to leap away from this 'thing', whatever it was, he had come to yet another startling realization. Not only had his arms been covered in this substance, but his boots and ankles had as well.

It continued to speak, taunting the former assassin. "You were so caught up with helping what you thought was a child, that you never even considered the possibility you were walking into a trap."

Tatsumi began struggling against this 'ooze' to the best of his ability while all the while piecing the sequence of events the lead him there in the first place. "The recent string of disappearances I've been hearing about and your eagerness to take me out here to this particular place. You've been luring people out here all along, haven't you?"

"And what if I have, human? That knowledge will not spare you my appetite.."

Cornelia was all the while trembling. As she had said, she had never been in a fight before. And not only had she never partaken in combat, but she had never even been close to a situation as dire as this. She was about to take a step back and run away from the barn entirely. But as she watched Tatsumi struggle, she recalled what he said to her prior to rushing into the barn. Words that sparked the fires of determination in her eyes. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she looked around to see if there was anything she could use to assist him. And that was when she noticed a rake leaning against a nearby wall. She quickly grabbed the rake and ran charging straight into danger. "I don't know what you are, but you better give me back my brother NOW!"

Just as Cornelia was within several feet of this monster under the guise of her brother, it turned its attention towards her and gestured its free hand in an upwards fashion. And just as it did, additional amounts of this ooze like substance came out from the cracks on the pine wooden floors. The ooze enveloped itself around the young girls shoes and ankles, causing her to trip and fall face down.

"Wait your turn, Cora. I'll devour you soon enough", the monster said before turning its attention back to Tatsumi. "Now then . . ." A slime coated leathery tendril with a hook on its tip poked its way out of one of Rolf's ears, bending and curling in Tatsumi's direction as it did so. "Time to break in my new host."

Tatsumi continued to struggle against the ooze like substance, doing his best to move with his eyes fixated on the slime-coated appendage moving closer and closer to him.

Cornelia also did her best to struggle, but was no more capable of breaking her legs free of this strange substance. "Mr. Tatsumi . . . no."

Before another moment could pass, a familiar voice nearby could be heard blurting out the word "Bühnensteuerung!" And with that curious incantation came an expedient sheet of ice rapidly expanding all across the pinewood floor. What's more, before the creature inhabiting Rolf had even realized it, its legs were encased in solid sheets of ice. "Well well well. A danger beast that is not only able to stealthily masquerade as a human, but also appears to be intelligent. One of Dr. Stylish's old experiments perhaps?"

Tatsumi turned his head towards the barn's entrance. "Watch out for its gunk, Esdeath. This thing has got plenty of it under the floor."

To the former assassin's surprise, however, she paid no regard to his warning, instead choosing to walk further into the barn without regard for the possibility of being ensnared in the same trap her boyfriend and Cornelia were in. "It's not 'gunk'; it's pine resin, sweety. And there's only one danger beast I know of that is capable of producing it: A chenoo."

"A chenoo?", Tatsumi asked, evidently never having encountered such a danger beast.

"Indeed. A creature that, in its larvae state, isn't too threatening in its own right, but does have the capacity to burrow itself into another danger beast' skull and and use its body as if it were its own. Still, this one isn't like any chenoo I've encountered. Usually, it only controls other danger beast, class three and below. This is the first time I've seen one control a human. And this one also seems to be capable of speech."

"Another human that reeks of us", the creature said, raising its hand once more as it did when Cornelia approached it earlier. "Perhaps I should make you my host instead." In response, pine resin suddenly began seeping out of the floor beneath Esdeath. Though to the danger beast's misfortune, the ice appeared to be blocking the ooze like substance entirely.

"I've killed hundreds of your kind, chenoo", Esdeath smirked. "Your little trick is nothing I haven't seen before. You need to grow as a larvae and have thus made this barn your nest. You've probably been using that boy's body to lure unsuspecting victims here just so you could feast."

"Stay back", the beast said, it's hook tipped tendril pressing slightly against Tatsumi's throat. "Come another step closer and I'll kill this one immediately."

To which the Ice Queen responded by suddenly conjuring a long and sharp ice spear in her right hand. "Your head will be sliding across the floor long before you get the chance."

"No!" Cornelia cried, still struggling against the pine resin she had been ensnared in. "Please! Don't hurt my brother!"

Not the least bit concerned about his own well-being, Tatsumi continued to gaze in the Ice Queen's direction, "Esdeath . . .", he said with a hint of concern in his voice.

She glared towards her boyfriend for another moment before letting out a frustrated sigh. "I see. So that's why you allowed yourself to fall into this creature's trap. You were hoping you could find some way to save this girl's older brother. Unfortunately for you, that's impossible."

"Impossible?", Tatsumi asked, eyes widening in horrifying realization. "Then you mean . . ."

"I don't know how to break it to you, little girl", Esdeath said, directing her attention back to Cornelia. "But this thing is NOT your brother. If this thing is in fact the culprit behind the recent string of disappearances we've heard about, then your brother has been dead for weeks."

"D-dead?", Cornelia said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "B-b-but Rolf . . . he's standing right there. It's just like Mr. Tatsumi said. He's just under this danger beasts' control . . . right?"

"I'm afraid not. I've never seen a chenoo possess a human before, but I know how they operate. It takes over its host's body by burrowing itself into its victim's skull and retains all of its hosts thoughts and memories by devouring its brain."

Tears continuing to stream down her eyes, the younger sibling couldn't believe what she was hearing. She promptly looked upon this monster in her brother's body once more, hoping to see some shred of humanity; hoping to see some shred of her beloved Rolf. But alas, the longer she gazed upon this thing, the more Esdeath's cold hard words rang true. This thing most certainly wasn't her brother, but a callous unfeeling monster only concerned about its next meal. And from the look of things, Tatsumi's brain was next on its menu.

"As I said. Your brother served his purpose", the chenoo continued to taunt before glaring towards Esdeath. "And not just him, but you all will soon meet the same fate. Starting with you!" At that precise moment, large goops of pine resin began pouring out from the ceiling. Much like the pine resin that had come flowing up from out the floor, the chenoo appeared to have the ability to telekinetically control the ooze-like substance; an ability it used to cluster all of the falling pine resin in one spot and rain it down upon the Ice Queen

Esdeath was, however, too quick-witted for such a simple ruse. She stretched out her left arm; with but one touch on the tip of her finger, she froze all of falling pine resin in one fell swoop. "Nice try, but . . ." She paused, suddenly realizing that the Chenoo's ruse wasn't as simple as she had assumed. Rather, it was a diversion. Just from the look of its hosts eyes and the sudden tension in its hook-tipped tendril, it was about to do just as it said it would do and kill Tatsumi immediately. And even with her extraordinary speed and reflexes, even she wasn't quick enough to lop off the beast's head at this rate.

With almost no time to act, the Ice Queen only saw one option. Cursing herself for her carelessness, she dropped her ice spear and gestured her hands together in a familiar triangular pose. "_Mahapadma_" It was the Ice Queen's second most prized ability; it was a trump card of her very own creation; a concentration of Demon Extract's powers to a point where even time and space itself would freeze.

And yet . . . time was anything but frozen. Despite having activated her trump card, in that briefest of moments, she could see the chenoo's hook tipped tendril already piercing through her love's skin. And in that briefest of moments, words could not describe the thoughts that were pouring through the Ice Queen's mind. At that moment, her concern wasn't her safety, the threat the Chenoo posed or why her trump card failed to activate; in her mind, the only thing she could see was what she feared above all else; the only thing she saw was her beloved Tatsumi drifting away from her. Without even realizing it, she had subconsciously reached for the ice spear she had dropped and was already on the verge of skewering the Chenoo while knowing full-well that her efforts would be in vain. But before she could even take a single step towards it, she noticed something protruding out of the beast's head: An arrow.

Tatsumi himself, whose neck had been slightly pierced, had witnessed everything that transpired and looked almost dumbstruck. "Cora . . ." Indeed, even though Cornelia had been bound by the chenoo's pine resin, she appeared to be holding her older siblings bow as well as several arrows in her hands. With the chenoo's attention focused on Tatsumi and Esdeath, she was not only able to reach these weapons with the rake she had grabbed earlier, but was also able to execute this monster before it could kill Tatsumi. And sure enough, after several disorienting blood curdling screams in pain, this body snatching danger beast fell straight on its back.

All the while, Cornelia could hardly believe what she had just done. Monster or not, that was her beloved brother's body she had just felled and she didn't hesitate to kill him. For a young girl her age, this was a great deal to take in and all she could do was look upon her trembling hands as tears continued to run down her cheeks. "What . . . what have I done?"

Tatsumi could scarcely believe what he had just seen himself. This young girl who had never even seen combat not only killed something wearing the face of her own brother, but did it with perfection in what was otherwise a tense and hopeless situation. Latent combat potential no doubt, but there was something else about what had just happened that didn't sit right with the former assassin. Yet before he could ponder on the matter any further, he noticed the pine resin on his body crystallizing into ice. And just as quickly as the adhesive substance had been frozen, it had quickly been shattered into pieces.

"Are you okay?", Esdeath asked, having just smashed away the frozen pine resin on Tatsumi's arms and legs with the ice spear she had conjured earlier. And before even receiving an answer, she promptly began inspecting his neck, making certain that there was no serious injury.

And as she did this, Tatsumi could not help but recall the time Akame had performed a similar examination after his first Night Raid mission. "I'm fine", he reassured her. "He barely nipped me."

For reasons not apparent to Tatsumi, however, Esdeath let out a sigh of frustration before proceeding to dispose of the pine resin around Cornelia's ankles much like she had with her boyfriend moments ago. Although it wasn't clear to him what was going on in that head of hers, it was plainly evident that she did not seem like her usual self. The usual Esdeath would've surely made some arrogant quip about the slain chenoo or she would have perhaps remarked on a desire to dissect this strange danger beast. Yet this Esdeath didn't have anything else to say. Instead, she walked up to her love and expressed her feelings in a way words could not: A cold clean open hand slap across the face.

"What was that for?", Tatsumi asked, rubbing his stinging slapped cheek with one of his hands.

To which Esdeath responded simply by turning around and making her way towards the barn's exit. "Tend to your young friend; she's the one who saved your life after all. Meet me at the Port Gavin Inn after you've finished your business here."

Deciding to leave pondering on the Ice Queen's uncanny demeanor for another time, he directed his attention towards Cornelia, who had been quietly sobbing the entire time. Even though the little girl had saved his life, Tatsumi wanted to curse himself for even allowing her to venture into this barn in the first place. He wondered if she would have been better off not knowing her brother's fate. Instead, he put her in a situation to not only learn a litany of gruesome details about her late sibling, but a situation where she herself had to kill the spitting image of said sibling. Most children her age would collapse under the mental trauma of what had occurred inside this barn; a fate he himself would have perhaps been subjected to if not for the support of friends he made after encountering Night Raid.

Indeed, Tatsumi was intimately familiar with what Cornelia had to be going through at the moment. His familiarity with the pain she was enduring made it all the more clear what he needed to do. Before Cornelia had even realized it, the former assassin crouched down and cupped the little girl in his arms; without uttering a word, he made it clear to her that it was not the end of the world and there was someone she could lean upon in these tragic circumstances. And so Cornelia did just that, sobbing aloud while returning her newfound friend's embrace, clinging onto him as if there were nothing else in the world to cling upon.

* * *

**_. . . I told the guard captain . . ._**

* * *

After what felt like hours of grieving and consoling , Tatsumi and Cornelia eventually ventured their way back to town. She tried to assure Tatsumi a number of times that she was feeling better, but he could easily see the pain and sorrow behind her expression. He figured the least he could do was walk her home and be the bearer of bad news to her parents. There was a part of him that was tempted to ask this little girl about the pivotal moment that lead to her slaying the Chenoo earlier; how she managed to put aside her emotions and kill something that looked just like her brother confounded him. In a way, her indecisiveness in killing that monster eerily reminded him of himself when he had killed that wealthy yet rotten aristocrat, Aria, on the night he first encountered Night Raid.

But as his mind continued to waiver, he once again decided to push away such unnecessary thoughts beyond the borders of his conscious and focus on the task at hand. With a deep and mind-clearing breath, he asked "Is this the place?", having finally made it to what appeared to be the town guard's barracks. And upon seeing her nod her head, he walked right inside with Cornelia behind him.

The moment they walked into what appeared to be a main hall, a guard promptly approached them. "You there. This area is for Port Gavin guards only. If you need to make a report, I suggest you-"

"He's with me", Cornelia interrupted in a tone of familiarity.

"Cora?", the guard remarked, finally noticing her. "What are you doing back here so late? The floors need to be scrubbed again and you still have plenty of laundry to do. And you better have a good explanation for bringing a civilian in here."

"We need to talk to the guard captain", Tatsumi replied. "It's about Rolf."

Seeing the serious and ominous look in the former assassin's eyes, the guard promptly gestured them to follow him and proceeded to guide them to what appeared to be an enclosed office room. As he began knocking on it, a voice from inside could be heard snarling that he "was not to be disturbed!"

In clear deference to the individual behind the closed door, the guard cleared his throat and parsed his words carefully. "Apologies sir, but we've got someone here who claims to have some important information for you. It's about Rolf."

"Rolf?", the voice said. Loud shuffling and scuttling around could immediately be heard from within the office. A strange series of noises that lasted for at least a full minute before the voice finally said "Come in."

As the guard opened the door, the other town guard that Agatha, the old tavern waitress, had referred to as 'Frank' could be seen sitting behind an office desk twiddling his thumbs. In front of him were several large tied-clothe-sack bags filled with what appeared to be gold pieces.

"Rolf?", the guard captain said, rubbing his chin. " "And I see you've brought my knucklehead daughter with you. I don't know where you've been for the past hour Cornelia, but I suggest you get back to your chores right this instant."

"Y-yessir", Cornelia replied, doing her absolute best to mask the pain in her heart. She gave the same salute she had given him the tavern earlier, albeit with far less enthusiasm, before walking away alongside the guard who had guided them to the office in the first place

"There's no need to be so harsh", Tatsumi remarked to the guard captain. "She's just a kid."

"How I choose to run things, be it the Port Gavin guards or my family, is none of your goddamn business. You came here to tell me about my son, so get on with it already."

And so the former assassin did just that; he gave a general account of what all had happened that evening; he explained how a danger beast had been masquerading as Rolf and how the real Rolf had likely been dead for weeks; he explained how this danger beast was likely the culprit behind the series of disappearances the guard captain had been investigating; and without going into too much detail, he explained how this danger beast, had been dealt with. All the while, the guard captain listened closely, his ears hanging on every word. He made certain not to interrupt what was otherwise a uncanny tale, reserving his comments until the end of Tatsumi's explanation. "I see. So it's been a chenoo all along. I had assigned Rolf to patrolling Port Gavin's borders, so he'd definitely be an ideal target for a danger beast that wants its lair on the outskirts of town. Didn't know they could take over human bodies, but it makes sense now that I think about it. Speaking of bodies, what did you do with the body?"

"I decided against burying it. I figured you'd all want to have a proper funeral."

"Excellent, I'll have one of my men retrieve it as soon as possible", the guard captain smirked. "You've done well. To think I was actually going to have to hire mercenaries to get to the bottom of the disappearances, but you resolved it perfectly. Once I tell the higher-ups, I'll be promoted in no time."

"Excuse me?", Tatsumi asked after raising an eyebrow. "What about your son?"

"What about my son?", the guard captain responded. "I'll make sure he gets some credit for this achievement as well; posthumously of course."

And just like that, Tatsumi was reminded of the predominant cultural mindset in this country. The ruthlessness, the cold-blooded mentality, the desire to pursue success at all cost, the willingness to step-on one's own family to get ahead; he had seen all of these characteristics praised in the play he had watched with Chelsea the last time he had visited this country and even recalled briefly discussing these abhorrent elements of Bestimmung's culture with Klaus. Cornelia seemed human enough, but her father was definitely the complete opposite. The more he thought about it, the more apparent it became that the very reason the chenoo was able to steal Rolf's body in the first place was because this man had ordered him, a boy no older than thirteen, to patrol the town's borders at his lonesome. And yet despite this irony, the man showed no remorse whatsoever; rather, he could not have looked any more pleased with this turn of events. "You don't care at all about your kids, do you?"

"Oh", the guard captain said, as if doused with a sudden drop of clarity. "That's right. You're not from Bestimmung, are you?"

"It doesn't matter what country I'm from. A father is supposed to love his children and I'd say it's more than clear that you don't love yours."

Surprisingly, however, the guard captain was not the least bit unnerved by Tatsumi's accusation. "You did good ridding us of that chenoo, so I'll let your ignorance slide, but speak another word about how I run my family and I'll have you arrested immediately for the felony of provoking a town guard."

With merely a shrug of his shoulders, the former assassin said "We're done here", before beginning to walk out of the guard captain's office.

"Wait just a minute!", the guard captain exclaimed, albeit with jovial laughter. "You've done Port Gavin guards a great service, so allow me to at very least give you something for your troubles." He reached into one of his pockets, only to pull out a small tied-together sack. "That's 20 gold pieces. It's not much, but honest work deserves honest pay."

"Thanks, but I don't need-", the former assassin raised his hand in protest before being interrupted.

"Nonsense!", the guard captain responded before forcing the small tied-together sack into one of Tatsumi's jacket pockets. "You saved me the trouble of having to pay mercenaries, so consider us even and consider that incentive should I need your services in the future."

"Right", Tatsumi said while rolling his eyes and walking away.

And just as Tatsumi left the guard captain's office, the guard from earlier walked in with a stack of flyers. And from the looks of them, they were all wanted posters. "Just as you requested sir: A complete list of this month's latest bounties. Does this mean you're finally going to go back to including them on the notice board?

"Not a chance in hell", the guard captain snickered. "I'm just keeping these on hand just in case one of the higher-ups is on board with that group of mercenaries set to sail in later tonight. They're all headed to the Steel festival up north, so they won't be in town long. Still, if a higher-up stops by and asks about the wanted posters, just tell them we keep them all here simply to make certain that only qualified mercenaries take on these jobs. Also make sure to let them know about the good work we've been doing in keeping Port Gavin safe and secure."

* * *

**_. . . There was something off about her . . ._**

* * *

True to her word, the Ice Queen was at the Port Gavin Inn. And she had apparently already checked into a room somehow. A room that wasn't by any means luxurious, must less suitable to her usual taste, but a room that was decent enough in its own right, with a queen sized bed, couch, desk and an adjoining bathroom; certainly a far better arrangement than sleeping outside as she and Tatsumi had been doing. It thus went without saying that she would immediately want to make use of the shower.

As a full stream of hot and soothing water jetted down on her long cerulean hair and statuesque figure, she stood quietly, blankly staring at the shower faucet and with her mind elsewhere. Not even a relaxing shower could distract her from what had happened at the barn earlier. A weak and feckless danger beast had nearly killed her beloved Tatsumi and she had not been able to do a thing about it. "Dammit", she muttered under her breath.

She looked down at the palms of her two hands while picturing as hard as she could the precise movements she made when she attempted to use her trump card earlier; she wondered if she simply performed the technique incorrectly. But the more she thought back to the prior moment, the more she realized that the posture of her hands were perfect. Still, perhaps it was just a fluke; an unknown side effect of Demon's Extract that she had not had any prior opportunity to explore. This seemed unlikely in her mind, but it would nonetheless explain why Mahapadma did not work. Knowing this, she felt she was left was no choice but to try doing the technique again; yes, to try it once more. If it worked, then each and every drop of water jetting out of the faucet would freeze in place for a maximum of 7 seconds. If it did not work, the shower would remain uninterrupted.

Realizing what she needed to do, the Ice Queen once again postured her two hands in the same triangular pose she had in the barn earlier. But just as she did this, she immediately noticed something off about herself; it was her two hands . . . they were . . . trembling. As they trembled, she noticed something else that was off. "_Is this . . . fear?"_, she thought. But why would she be afraid to simply test her imperial arm, she wondered. It was almost as if . . . as if . . . she did not want to know what would happen. "_What nonsense! I am Esdeath and Esdeath fears nothing!"_

With raw determination in her eyes, she quickly ceased trembling, instead yelling out the the word "Mahapadma!" at once so she could put these nagging feelings to rest once and for all. And just as she said it, the stream of jetting water . . . remained unimpeded; hot and soothing water continued to drizzle down her long cerulean hair and statuesque figure without any impediment whatsoever. A cue that would ordinarily be for pleasure and relaxation had, in that moment, ironically enough, become a cue for even more of this feeling the Ice Queen had denied existed a moment earlier. But precisely what was it the gave birth to this dreadful feeling?

Before she could ponder any further on what had just happened, she could hear someone knocking on the front door. In response, she switched the shower knob off, stepped out from the shower, reached for one of the complimentary towels on the bathroom counter and snugly wrapped it around her waste and upper body. She then proceeded to walk straight to the front door and open it, intuitively aware of who was on the other side. "Finally back, are we? I thought you'd at least want to make certain this town didn't have any cats stuck in any trees", the Ice Queen's words dripping with sarcasm.

It was her beloved former assassin of course and he didn't appear to take any offense to her snide remark. Rather, he walked right into the room and took a seat on the foot of the bed. "Look, I know why you're upset with me."

"Do you now?", Esdeath asked, walking up to him with her arms folded.

"It's just like the time we fought those pirates on that merchant's ship", Tatsumi remarked, recalling his encounter with the pirate who had nearly killed him in a suicide grenade attack only to be thwarted by the Ice Queen. "You don't like seeing me put myself in danger."

Following her boyfriend's cue, Esdeath proceeded to sit right next to him on the foot of the bed. "It's not that I don't like seeing you put yourself in danger, love. It's just that . . . .", she stopped herself, trying to think of a way to parse his next statement without sounding weak or desperate, ". . . it would be awfully inconvenient to me if you were to die all of the sudden. I would be robbed of a soulmate and a worthy rival all in one swoop."

Hearing her answer only made Tatsumi smile however as it was fairly obvious that she was trying to downplay the full extent of her feelings on this subject. Which was odd to him as she was certainly never this shy about any other aspect of their relationship. "Whatever you say, Esdeath. Regardless, the bottom-line is that I didn't mean to worry you and I'm sorry."

Her eyes beaming with heartfelt joy, she swiftly threw both of her arms around him and pulled him in for an passionately intimate embrace. "Apology accepted, my love!"

His smile growing warmer by the moment, Tatsumi wrapped both of his arms around his Ice Queen's back, returning her embrace and knowing that her love and affection weren't simply commonly used goods she casually dispense with just any prospective lover as would be the case for many other young couples. Rather, these were unique commodities reserved for him and him alone.

"Hey Tatsumi", Esdeath whispered in a hushed mischievous tone.

"Yeah-", he said before being interrupted by her speedily pushing him down on the bed and onto his back. And before he had even realized it, she had already crawled her way on top of him in a fashion that was identical to the way she had done so in her bedroom in the capital not long after they had first met.

"To be perfectly honest", she said while nibbling and pecking his neck. "I've always wondered what would have happened had you just given into me back then."

"You mean before or after you put a collar around my neck?", he replied, his cheeks blushing and his breathes getting faster.

As she continued giving his neck her full attention, she slipped one of her hands beneath his assassin's jacket, slowly pulling it off. "You know what I'm talking about. Although that collar part would still be fun."

"Not in a million years", he retorted, now giggling from the sensually ticklish sensation on his neck.

Just as she heard those words, the Ice Queen promptly ceased her little game on her lover's neck and additionally ceased pulling his jacket off. Instead, she immediately reached for his arms and pinned them down by his wrists only to remain on top of him in an intimidating fashion; a pose a great deal of men would no doubt pay money for, but one Tatsumi simply found curious.

"Oh no", the former assassin said with a semi-annoyed look on his face, almost as if intuitively knowing exactly what she was thinking. "We are so NOT doing THAT."

To which Esdeath smirked with a rather smug look in her eyes. "In all of this commotion, my love, it would appear you completely forgot about the wager we made earlier this afternoon."

"Good grief", Tatsumi sighed in indignation. "Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like where this is going?"

She lowered her head to peck him on the cheek before continuing her explanation. "As I recall, the deal was that whoever had the most gold pieces by 11:00 pm would be the winner and the loser would have to abide by one request from the winner no matter what it was. Did you ever stop to wonder how I managed to rent this hotel room?"

"What?!", Tatsumi exclaimed, eyes widening in disbelief. "You mean you actually found a class one ice-wolf out there? But how?"

To which the Ice Queen chuckled, "You may be my equal in combat, darling, but when it comes to hunting, you may as well compete with the local dog catcher. You could have waited up in that tree for an entire month and you still would have never spotted a class one ice-wolf out in these parts."

"Okay fine; you have a point. But still, I never said I would abide by your requests no matter what it was!"

"No, your words were . . . **fine, but it can't involve killing, stealing or otherwise doing something a bad guy would do**", the last part being said in a way that cheaply imitated Tatsumi's voice.

He rolled his eyes, "You're terrible at impressions you know."

"Maybe so", she laughed. "But I'd say my echoic memory more than makes up for it. Now then, I believe it was 10:57 pm when you walked through the door. You know what that means, right?"

Tatsumi sighed in indignation once more, realizing the implications as clear as day. And being one of honor and integrity, the thought of going back on his word did not even occur to him. He said he would honor one request and he knew he had to do just that. "I guess."

"Splendid", she giggled before pecking him on the cheek once more. "But just to make my victory all the more sweeter . . .", she said before getting up off of her love and walking over to the desk nearby. She then opened one of the desk drawers and removed what appeared to be a sack of gold pieces. "Why don't we confirm the final score?"

"Whatever", Tatsumi got up and out of the bed unenthusiastically, not at all looking forward to how the evening was about to proceed. He walked to the desk while searching for any and all remnants of gold pieces in his pockets.

Esdeath proceeded to dump her bag of gold pieces onto the desk, brandishing an impressive pile in the process. "Minus the cost of renting this room, I have a staggering total of 490 gold pieces. Your turn!"

While muttering under his breath, he removed the gold pieces that had been stashed away in one of his pants pockets and laid it on the desk; there were a total of 10, but they notably paled in comparison to Esdeath's large and hefty pile.

Seeing the sight of this brought nothing but unbridled boastful laughter from the Ice Queen. "Is that all? I was hoping you'd have at least made this somewhat interesting.

Tatsumi then reached for his coat pocket to grab the meager sum Cornelia's father had forcefully placed there earlier; a meager 20 gold pieces he had been told, but still nowhere near enough to match his girlfriend's sizable profit. As he untied the clothed sack the gold pieces were stuffed in, Esdeath continued to laugh, savoring her apparent victory for each and every moment. Upon finally untying the clothed sack, he flipped it upside down as if to dump out all of the gold pieces that were inside. But to his surprise, he did not see 20 gold pieces; instead, he saw a mere 4 gold pieces come out and plop onto the desk in his meager pile. The sight of this annoyed him at first, but then he realized something even more surprising. There was still something in the clothed sack; something slightly larger than the other 4 gold pieces that had fallen out. Determined to see what it was, the former assassin forcefully prodded out this last item, only for his eyes to widen in amazement as this last item plodded onto the desk.

The smug look of satisfaction had abandoned the Ice Queen all of the sudden and she too appeared to be shocked at what had just plopped into Tatsumi's pile. "How in blue blazes did you get that?!" It was a gold piece that looked identical to the one they saw in the tavern earlier; it was a plućque.

Tatsumi picked up the highly valuable gold piece as if to scrutinize it closely. "The guard captain gave it to me . . . and I'm guessing by mistake as he definitely didn't strike me as being the generous type. Either way, you do know what this means, right?"

"Technically, you did not earn that by hunting a danger beast!", Esdeath replied, overtly on the defensive. "As a matter of fact, you didn't even earn that. You got lucky!"

"Maybe", Tatsumi grinned. "But as I recall, the deal was **whoever has the most gold pieces by 11:00 pm tonight is the winner**", he said, emphasizing those last words in a way that cheaply imitated Esdeath's voice. "And as you can see, by the time I walked in the door, I had over 5000 gold pieces.

Esdeath was now the one sighing in indignation. "You're equally terrible at impressions, my love."

"True, but I'm also the winner!", he said before doing a fist pump.

"Fine", she rolled her eyes. "Incredibly dumb luck notwithstanding, you win. So what is it you'd like for me to do?"

The former assassin smirked while rubbing his chin in a ruminating fashion, rather satisfied with how things had turned out. "Hmm. I'll have to think about it. And unlike me, you didn't make any stipulation for what would happen in the event you lost, so I've got free reign for whatever request I want."

"What have I gotten myself into", she sighed once more, this time rubbing her face against one of her palms.

* * *

_**. . . That was when they found out . . .**_

* * *

Back at the guard barracks, the guard captain was still in his office counting a large pile of gold pieces. With each piece he counted, he grew all the more pleased with himself. "4,603 . . . 4,604 . . . 4,605 . . . 4,606 . . . 4,607 . . . 4,608 . . . 4,609."

Before he could count another gold piece, knocking could be heard on the office door. "Guard captain, sir, permission to come in?"

Feeling to be in such a magnanimous mood, the guard captain didn't even think of fussing over once again being interrupted. He did, however, make certain to shove every gold piece he had lying out straight into a clothed sack bag before quickly tying it closed. "Is that you, Cornelia? Come right in."

She did just that, walking right into the office and closing the door behind her. "I've finished all my chores just as you asked and the floors have been waxed spotless.

"Good. Very good", he said, looking all the more pleased with his daughter's hard work. "Should a Bestimmung official drop by here tonight, it's imperative that this place look spotless."

"Are there any other assignments you have for me? If not, permission to go to bed, sir?", she asked while giving a firm salute.

"No other assignments, but I would like to talk with you. Have a seat", he said, gesturing towards one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Yes sir." The little girl did just as her father ordered, sitting down and scooting her seat closer to his desk to compensate for her small stature.

"Things are finally looking up for us, he said, grinning from ear to ear. "Not too long ago, one of our ambassadors was assassinated up near Hertz. From what I hear, the assassins were part of some little pathetic coup that got quelled down in the Grand Empire. Even though it was the work of assassins, the guard captain up in Hertz received most of the blame and is currently set to be executed for his bungling."

With a look of confusion in her eyes, Cornelia couldn't help but ask, "With all due respect, sir, what does that have to do with us?"

To which the guard captain responded, "Hertz' position of guard captain is officially up for grabs and I've already sent in my application. And now, thanks to the notoriety I'm bound to receive thanks to your brother's efforts and the amount of gold pieces I've been able to set aside to make certain the application process goes smoothly, I'm all but guaranteed to get the position. And do you know what that means for us?"

"Sir, to be honest, I don't-"

But the guard captain was so enthusiastic, that he couldn't wait to listen to his daughter's response. "We get to leave this sorry one-horse town once and for all. Hertz is a very nice city and one of the finest cities in Bestimmung. And with the salary their guard captain receives, you'll never have to worry about cleaning another floor. Instead, we can finally live in an estate and I can finally afford to send you to a full fledged academy!"

At that moment, however, the prospect of having a better life didn't even occur to Cornelia. Her mind was in the same place it had been that entire evening. "Sir, I'm sorry, but is it wrong that I can't stop thinking about Rolf?"

"Sweet little Cornelia", the guard captain sighed before getting out of his office chair and walking around his desk towards his daughter. He looked down upon her, but not in anger or annoyance; he remained as gleeful as he had throughout their entire conversation thus far. Then, with an affectionate pat on her head, he said, "We've been over this before. Leave the dead behind us. Always. We will remain grateful to the role Rolf played in putting us in our current position, but you must remember that he's dead; he's never coming back. So don't get saddled down by his death. Embrace it. Be proud of the good your brother has done for us and use it to your advantage. If I haven't taught you anything else in this world, I've taught you that. Right now, you're stronger than he was. Take pride in your strength and live on. Remember that and you will always succeed no matter what. Now head on to bed. I have some business to take care of, but we'll talk more in the morning"

"Yes sir!", she said before giving another firm salute and walking away.

"Now then, where was I?", the guard captain asked himself, his eyes almost obsessively fixated on the many clothed sacks of gold pieces in his office. "Ah yes, counting the requisition money I'm naturally entitled to for being such a good guard captain." He picked up several clothed sack bags he had placed on his desk and promptly placed them on the floor nearby. He then reached into his desk drawer, his eyes gleaming all the more brightly and he saw a particular small tied-together clothed sack bag. "Ah yes, the plućque I would have had to have spent on mercenaries. This little piggy went straight to the bank." He picked the bag up and fondly kissed its exterior . . . only to notice something off about it. It didn't feel like one gold piece three times the size of a regular gold piece. It felt like 10, no 15, no 20 gold pieces stuffed inside. Panicking all of the sudden, he quickly untied this small clothed sack bag and dumped the gold pieces right down on his desk. And to his horror, there was no plućque in sight. Just 20 gold pieces. "What the hell?! IT'S GONE!"

Consumed by rage, the guard captain tore open bag after bag, looking for his precious plućque until finally realizing what had actually transpired. That bag of gold pieces he gave away earlier; the one he gave away in exchange for that young red eyed young man's assistance in dealing with the Chenoo. Prior to that man even coming into his office, the guard captain recalled how he had quickly packed away every gold piece he had been counting on his desk so that no one could realize what he was doing with most of the requisition money, including the plućque. He had placed one small bag in his pockets and one small bag, the one he had believed to contain the plućque into his desk.

"DAMN IT ALL!", the guard captain snarled, knocking everything off his desk in blind rage. The gold pieces, various documents and the stack of wanted posters he had been given had all fallen on the floor. He smashed both of his fist onto his desk and yelled out all sorts of expletives. He was even about to flip his desk over entirely. But just as he had gotten a firm grip on it, something on the floor caught his eye; something curious enough to temporarily subdue his blind rage. He reached for this item that captivated his attention; he wanted to make certain that his eyes were not playing tricks on him; he wanted to make sure he was indeed seeing what he believed he was seeing. It was one of the wanted posters and it was none other than a wanted poster for someone he had seen in the tavern earlier that day: A wanted poster for a certain ex-Grand Empire general with long blue hair; it was a 5 billion gold pieces dead, 10 billion gold pieces alive bounty for former General Esdeath.

At that moment, all was well again for the guard captain and the absence of his precious plućque was no more a cause for concern than a fly buzzing around the room; needless to say, he was once again grinning from ear to ear.

* * *

_**. . . I didn't know what was wrong . . .**_

* * *

Water dripping down his skin and steam having fogged up the bathroom mirror, Tatsumi had just stepped out of the shower. And given the outdoor living arrangements he had been enduring for much of the past month, a normal hot water shower was long overdue in his mind. He reached for one of the towels set to the side on the bathroom counter. As he steadily dried himself off, he noticed his reflection in the mirror; particularly, he noticed his eyes; his two red eyes and two cross-slit pupils. Gazing upon himself for several minutes, he realized that this was the first time he had seen a reflection of himself since his metamorphosis with Incursio. And it wasn't just his eyes either that he noticed, but his appearance in general. He recalled the trademark cowlick he had sported in his hair for so long, only to realize it was gone.

As he continued to observe himself in the mirror, he ran his fingers across his face, perhaps subconsciously expecting to see a mask tether off and reveal the original green eyed boyish adventurer who had waltzed into the capital over a year ago and who felt he could easily attain the rank of a captain in the imperial army. No such mask appeared however, prompting him to widen his eyes for reasons only his subconscious could understand. He hadn't just physically changed, but had mentally changed as well and not just in the area of combat as he had demonstrated in his climactic battle with Esdeath.

He recalled his conversation with the guard captain earlier in the evening, knowing that his former self, consistent with how he had previously dealt with similar people in authority, would not have hesitated to lash out at him in a tirade for caring so little about his own son's death. But his current self did not even consider doing so, calmly and methodically determining that it wasn't worth the effort. He had thought Incursio's perfect sync trial was simply about overcoming his tendency to follow other people's initiative as opposed to his own, but were there some changes to his demeanor and mentality that he was not consciously aware of?

"_Maybe I'm just overthinking things", _he thought to himself before walking away from the mirror and towards the bathroom's linen closet. He reached inside, grabbed himself the spare bathrobe that was inside and began putting it on. "_Everything that has happened since then has turned out for the best."_

Just as the former assassin walked out of the bathroom, he noticed the Ice Queen lounging on the bed with her attention squarely fixated on her prized sketchbook. Like him, she was also attired in a bath robe, no doubt one that had been in the linen closet. She also appeared to have tied her long blue hair into a pony tail. "You certainly took your time in there", she remarked, evidently in the middle of doodling another one of her pictures.

With one hand behind his head, Tatsumi sported a somewhat embarrassed smile, "Scrubbing that pine resin off my back took a little extra elbow grease."

To which Esdeath responded, still fixated with her sketchbook, with a sly grin on her lips, "Yet another reason we should simply shower together."

"I told you I'm not ready for that kind of stuff just yet!", Tatsumi defensively replied and with a blush on his cheeks no less. Despite having long come to terms for his feelings for the Ice Queen, this relationship thing was still new to him and he was not prepared to dive right into every possibility that could be explored.

Esdeath set her sketchbook aside and responded with a faux over-the-top fainting gesture,"Must you insist on teasing me so, love?"

To which Tatsumi sighed before walking towards the window, "It's not teasing. If we're gonna give this relationship thing a shot, I'd prefer to take it slow."

"Perhaps there's some truth in that sentiment", she laughed before going back to her sketchbook. "By the way, have you thought about the request you get to make, as per our wager? Frankly, I'd rather just get it out of the way. The sooner the better."

"Still haven't thought of anything", he shrugged, gazing upon the view outside. The Port Gavin Inn wasn't much, but they were four stories up on its tallest floor. "To be honest, it's not that big of a deal. We've got some money now and that's really all I was concerned about."

"Nonsense, darling. For better or for worse, I made you a wager and I lost fair and square. Trust and honesty are the cornerstones of any healthy relationship, so go ahead and make your request. I'll honor my word."

"I have no doubt about that. Just let me think about it", he replied before something else in the room caught his attention. "Wow! That was fast." Both Tatsumi and Esdeath's clothes were hung up on a clothes rack next to the desk and looked spotless from the look of things. As he walked up to inspect their attire, he couldn't help but marvel at how well a job had been done. "And not a speck of pine resin either!"

With a stretch of her arms and a light yawn , the Ice Queen set her sketchbook on the end table next to her before pulling back the bed covers and sliding under them, smirking all the while. "You'd be amazed how quickly you can motivate someone to iron out and dry clean something at this hour."

Following her cue, Tatsumi hit the light switch and proceeded to climb into bed himself, sliding right under the covers as well and lying on his side. "Do I even want to know what kind of 'motivation' you used?"

"Nothing crass, my love", she winked, having some idea of what barbaric conclusions her boyfriend was jumping to, ". . . especially if we're to go by Bestimmung standards."

"Bestimmung standards . . .", Tatsumi remarked to himself with a contemplative look on his face, those last two words catching his attention; he was thinking back on what the guard captain had said during the latter parts of their conversation about Rolf; how the guard captain didn't seem to care about his son's death and was more concerned with who was going to get the credit for slaying the chenoo. If that was the kind of man the guard captain was, then Cornelia would have no one to turn to in her darkest hour. Whereas Tatsumi had had Night Raid to lean upon, Cornelia would have no one; a cold and plain realization he could not shake away.

Esdeath, on the other hand, was playfully twirling the loose strands of hair near her left ear. It had been some time since she had shared a bed with her love. They had slept together every night since officially becoming a couple, but there was no disputing that warm and soft bed offered far more intimacy than sleeping on the hard ground ever could. She turned over on her side in his direction, curious to see the look in his eyes; curious to see how he was feeling. But as she looked his way, she realized he was looking away, his back facing her; she noticed that he was silent and taciturn all of the sudden. And so before he even knew it, the Ice Queen had scooted over and wrapped her arms around his torso, gracefully spooning into him from behind as if melding into place. "Do I even need to guess what you're thinking about, my love?"

"Heh", a small but reluctant smile curved on his lips, "You know me pretty well at this point."

"Cornelia will be fine", she said, playfully running her fingers up and down his chest. "You of all people should know that you can't judge people by appearances alone. You saw how she handled herself tonight when pushed to the brink; she has a lot more potential than you're giving her credit."

"She might, but she's still just a kid. And I'd hate to see someone as pure and innocent as her turn out just like her father."

Still dangling her fingers across his chest, she giggled. "You really think it's that simple? That people just emulate every trait and characteristic of their parents? My father never shared my fondness for vivisecting. And he was most certainly never as dedicated to proving that 'only the strong live and the weak die as I was."

"No, but he is the reason you started believing that stuff in the first place."

"And so what do you intend to do about it? Kidnap your new friend and raise her yourself to see to it that she never loses her so-called purity? Or perhaps you intend to go back to the guard barracks and give her father such a sound thrashing that he will have no choice but to apologize for his impudence?"

"You know I'd never do that."

"No", she laughed. "But teasing you about the moral ambiguity of your choices has become somewhat of a pastime for me. In all seriousness though, you have two choices. You can either be a hypocrite and do something you'd certainly chastise me for doing or . . . you can have faith in your new friend."

"Faith in my friends, huh", he chuckled, surprised to hear the Ice Queen utter such an optimistic expression. That was typically a sentiment he'd express, not her. "It looks like I've been rubbing off on you, Esdeath."

"Hmph. Don't get too full of yourself, Tatsumi. My point is that you should try and let people solve their own problems as opposed to constantly giving into this bizarre urge to jump into other people's affairs just so you can play the hero. Look where it just about got you tonight."

"Maybe I got a bit reckless with the chenoo", he said, still chuckling. Then, with her arms still relaxed around him, he rolled over and gazed upon her face to face, causing her to blush as he did this. "But I knew all along you had been tailing us to that barn. I just pretended not to notice."

By this point, she had stopped loosely dangling her fingers across his torso. Rather, with an eyebrow raised, she asked, "What are you saying?"

"Oh c'mon, Esdeath. You commanded the Jaegers. Do I need to spell it out? We're teammates now and teammates count on each other to watch each other's back."

"Soulmate? Yes. Boyfriend? Yes? But teammates? You and me? Ha! Don't be absurd."

"Wait, what? You don't mind the first two, but have a problem with the last one? How's that not absurd?"

The Ice Queen narrowed her eyes with tension thick enough to be pierced with a rapier. "First, outside the area of love, you are my rival. The day will come when I crush you. Never forget that. Second, there is no team here. I merely tailed you because I knew your foolishness would get you into trouble. A team implies we're working for a singular purpose and I most certainly could not care less what happens to Port Gavin much less what happens to its inhabitants."

Upon hearing this, Tatsumi gazed upon her for several moments with a dumbstruck look on his face before continuing to chuckle, much to Esdeath's irritation. Love or not, she was still very prideful and had absolutely no tolerance for insubordination. It was funny to him because even though she had changed a great deal since they had first met, she was still in many ways the same woman who had invited him into her bedroom the night after they had first met and the same woman who proudly declared he would never change her. But before she could even muster up a threat, she felt Tatsumi's lips brushed up against hers, quickly eradicating the indignation that had been building up for the last couple of moments and replacing it with her usual schoolgirl swooning. To which Tatsumi then said, "Look, I get that you're arrogant as all hell and that we don't see eye to eye on a whole lot of things, but when it's all said and done, I trust you with my life. And so even though I was reckless, I knew you had my back and knew you weren't going to let anything happen."

". . . Tatsumi . . . I . . .", she uttered with a heartfelt blush on her cheeks. The Ice Queen wanted to say something. Words that her immense pride would never allow her to say. And yet words that seemed to be cutting their way out from her heart, out from her immense pride and all the way up through her throat. But just as she was about to muster the very next word, she was reminded by the events that took place in the barn. How she had tried to use her trump card yet failed. She was further reminded of her experiment in the shower and how her trump card yet again failed to activate. One's eyes were the window into one's soul; a fact she knew all too well after years of torture. She wasn't about to let someone peek into her soul at the moment even if it were her proclaimed soulmate. She quickly averted her eyes from his gaze, released him from her grasp and rolled over to the other side of the bed. ". . . need to get some rest. Something tells me tomorrow is going to be a long day."

Her back now facing him, the former assassin gazed upon it for a few moments, not knowing if he once again did something wrong. He looked upon her a few additional moments, before shrugging his shoulders, rolling over to the other side of the bed and uttering the words. "Yeah . . . well goodnight."

* * *

_**. . . FIRE . . .**_

* * *

Several hours had passed in the little town of Port Gavin and it was at least an hour or two after midnight. The streets were just about empty, the shops were all closed, the docks were unattended and even the tavern was notably quiet. No one was up and about . . . besides the Port Gavin guards. Indeed, the Port Gavin guards were well on the move at the time and a great number of them were marching together in three separate single file lines all towards the Port Gavin Inn. At the front and center of them was Frank, the guard captain. His attention was preoccupied with Esdeath's wanted poster and the massive bounty it promised.

As the guard captain continued to gaze upon the flier in his hands, a gentleman in a dressed suit approached him. "Just as you directed, I've evacuated everyone else inside the inn. I've kept my end of the bargain."

"Yes, and you and your Inn will be handsomely reimbursed", the guard captain smirked. "When I'm through here, I'll have enough to buy twenty inns like this one if I so choose."

Seven other guards approached their captain just as he said this; four of them had been pulling a mounted cannon at least sixteen feet long, eight feet wide and eight feet tall and the other three were pulling a gargantuan cannonball similar in size. "Just as you ordered, sir", one of the guards sir after giving a firm salute.

The guard captain folded up the wanted poster in his hands and stashed it away in one of his pockets before directing his attention towards the Port Gavin Inn itself. "Good. Take aim at the set of windows on the fourth floor five meters to the right. Make certain not to miss or it'll be your head." Heeding their captains orders, the guards did just that, carefully calibrating the monstrosity they had been pulling. All the while, the guard captain appeared to be all too pleased with himself and what he believed to be his brilliance. "_I've done my homework, ex-general Esdeath. Even a weapon like this isn't enough to kill you, but even if it does, I can live with a 5 billion gold piece bounty. If it doesn't, we can finish you off in the wreckage and subdue you afterwards."_

"Target secured, sir!", one of the guards yelled, having correctly calibrated their mounted cannon into place. "On your command!"

Upon putting on a pair of what appeared to be sound dampening ear muffs, he yelled "FIRE!" And at the very next moment, it had sounded as if a hellish bolt of lightning had struck the ground. A sound so loud and thunderous that it immediately shattered the windows of every building nearby. The windows were but the least of what was destroyed however, as the entire room Tatsumi and Esdeath had checked into was more or less vaporized. Not only that, but as a additional couple of seconds passed, the entire building began to collapse, leaving nothing but heaps of smoke and rubble in its place. All the while, the guard captain stood solemn with his arms crossed, smirking with satisfaction at what was otherwise a job well done.

* * *

**A/N:** That was pretty long, wasn't it? Sorry folks, but I have had a lot of time to tinker. The remaining 11 chapters should not be quite as long, but we will see!

Love it? Hate it? Had to have been written by a complete and total hack? Meh? Feel free to leave a review! Feedback is always appreciated! As are follows and favorites! Thanks again and look forward to the second chapter as soon as I get around to it!


	2. Hunt the Road to Hertz

**A/N:**

**#1. As always, thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows! Knowing that people are ought there interested in my work is what keeps me going! I have nothing but gratitude towards all of my readers and am sincerely grateful for your longtime support. **

**#2. This chapter isn't as long as the last one! It's nice, compact and straight to the point as far as the story I'm trying to tell. **

**#3. I've decided to give the "Wild Hunt" somewhat of an overhaul in terms of characterization. As this fic progresses, that will become more apparent to you all.**

**#4. Although I said there will only be 12 chapters of this fic in my previous A/Ns, the more I think about how I want to progress this story, there will be probably be more.**

**With all of that said, let us continue where we left out!**

* * *

_**. . . As the smoke cleared . . .**_

* * *

In mere moments, the Port Gavin Inn had been reduced to mere smoke and rubble. And having heard the thunderously loud explosion the guards had caused with their mounted cannon, many nearby Port Gavin residents stepped outside their homes in an effort to see for themselves what was going on in the middle of an otherwise peaceful night. A multitude of guards, however, had been stationed around the scene and would not let any civilians pass.

"Ready another cannon ball and keep the cannon aimed at the rubble!", the guard captain yelled to his underlings stationed at the mounted cannon. "The rest of you are to begin digging through the rubble at once! Keep your rifles locked and ready. Our target is every bit as deadly ultra class danger beast. Exercise extreme caution!"

"YES SIR!", each guard said in unison after giving a firm salute. And so they all began doing just as they had been ordered. Several guards begin pulling in another cannon ball and a number of other guards began searching through the Inn's rubble for their blue haired target.

All the while, the guard captain surveyed the scene with a smug sense of satisfaction, snickering as he postulated on what he was going to do with all the reward money he was going to receive upon collecting Esdeath's bounty. Multiple scenarios ran through his head, including one where he was waited on hand and foot by a great deal of servants and another scenario where he was swimming through an entire room filled with gold pieces. The guard captain was so, in fact, enthused about these vivid daydreams that he neglected to immediately notice a short blond haired young woman walking in front of him; a young woman who was wearing a turquoise ribbon on her head and was sporting a matching innocent-looking turquoise dress with a white apron affixed to it.

This blonde haired woman had walked onto the scene, not at all interested in the rampant destruction that had just taken place. Rather, she seemed to be fixated on what appeared to be a compass in her hands; the compass' arrow was pointing to an area in the midst of the former inn's wreckage and she was steadily walking in that direction.

"Hey!", yelled one of the nearby guard as he noticed this young woman who had somehow gotten pass the guards who had blockaded this area. "What are you doing?! Civilians are not supposed to be back here!"

But the blonde paid this guard no mind, instead following the pathway her compass had laid out for her. "That's interesting", she said to herself, clearly not even acknowledging the guards' existence.

And it was at this point that her actions had caught the guard captain's attention. Of course, not so much her actions as it was the sight of her disregard for the guards' authority (or rather his authority to be more precise ) the thrusted him out of his wealth-craving high and instead more along the lines irritated that someone was potentially trying to get in the way of his early retirement fantasies. With snarls trickling through his gnashing teeth, he looked upon some of the nearby guards with contempt and frustration "Don't just stand there you neanderthals! This woman is impeding the town guards in their duties and trespassing on a secured area. Arrest her at once!"

"Yes sir!", these nearby guards said before approaching this would-be trespasser with the intention of seizing her.

Before they could take another step, however, peculiar humming could be heard all of the sudden. Peculiar humming that for some reason coincided with each of these guards coming to a sudden halt in their efforts to carry out their orders. Not just these guards, but even the guards who had been digging through the inn's rubble. All of them stopped what they were doing, almost as if they were entranced by this sudden humming. Humming that, as seconds passed, began to evolve into a full blown song. A song that was otherwise a lyrical jazz treasure trove and a song that appeared to be coming from someone who had been standing on top of a pile of wreckage several meters away.

"**Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away!**" , a young pink haired woman caroled through a cordless microphone. She had a bob-styled haircut and a bunny ears accessory on her head; she was sporting a mini-dress, a collar, matching wrist bands, two black boots and a stylish pair of glasses. "**If you can use some exotic booze, there's a bar in far Sombay! Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away!**"

Every single guard had suddenly become beguiled with this would-be songstress's lyrics. Not a single one of them felt any compulsion to continue searching through the inn's wreckage, stationing the mounted canon or even blockading the area. All of them, including the guard captain himself, had become passionately fixated on this siren's lyrical wonderland.

"**Come fly with me, let's float down to Teru!**", she continued, blowing a kiss at the guard captain in-between her lyrics. She definitely appeared to be enjoying herself. "**In llama land, there's a one man band, and he'll toot his flute for you! Come fly with me, let's take off in the blue!**"

It had gotten to the point where the guards had not only become entranced, but were even cheering, hooting and hollering. All the while, the short blond woman continued to survey the inn's wreckage, only without interference now that all of the guards appeared to be preoccupied.

"Well Dorothea", another voice with a tone of the utmost impatience inquired. "Are they here or not? I've got better things to do than listen to Cosmina do karaoke all night."

To which the short blond woman replied with disinterest, "Ever hear the story of the tortoise and the hare? It's called patience, Syura."

"I've been more than patient about my revenge, Dorothea", Syura scowled with contempt, feeling as if his resolve was being questioned. "Why else would I have taken the time to put together my Wild Hunt?"

"Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that you're trying to get revenge on an opponent you don't stand a chance in hell against on your own."

The ex-prime minister's son responded by gritting his teeth and walking closer to Dorothea. "Why you little . . ."

"Cut her a break, boss", another figure had said before reassuringly resting his hand on Syura's shoulder. "You know how cranky she gets when someone is interrupting her work." This figure appeared to be a tall man with black hair worn in a top ponytail; he was donned in clothing much like that of a samurai; he had a twig in his mouth and had a katana fastened to his belt.

"I'm not interested in your opinion, Izou!", Szyura spat while batting his hand away. "I'm only interested in results!"

"Which you're not going to find here", Dorothea said, while inspecting a particular piece of stoned rubble much like an archaeologist inspecting an ancient artifact . "Nope, they're definitely long gone."

"Damnit", Syura growled. "Slipped away from me again. How long will it take you to get another lock on their location?"

To which the short young blonde replied, "If I had a better sample to go off of, I could do it within minutes. For now, it's gonna be about eight hours at minimum."

"But they were definitely here, right?", Syura inquired, rubbing his chin in a contemplative fashion.

"Yep", Dorothea nodded before letting out a hearty yawn; she looked as if she were greatly fatigued. "I'm gonna find some place to take a nap. Will meet you all back here in about eight hours or so."

"Izou, where's Champ?", Syura asked, his attention shifting to the would-be samurai.

To which the samurai replied while twiddling the twig in his mouth, "Reckon he said something about wanting to check out the tavern and to come get him when we needed him."

"Typical", Syura said, rubbing the palm of his hand against his face. "Make sure he's not causing any trouble. It's going to be enough of a hassle dealing with Esdeath on this hunt. There's no telling what sort of annoyance other assassins and bounty hunters would add to our troubles if we drew enough attention to ourselves."

"**Weather wise, it's such a lovely day! You just say the words and we'll beat the birds down to Cacapulco Bay!**", Cosmina caroled, having continued to sing the entire time. While she was singing, she glanced in Syura's direction, almost as if asking him what he wanted her to do while Izou and Champ were preoccupied with investigating their target's whereabouts. "**It's perfect for a flying honeymoon, they say!**"

Feeling enough of his time had been wasted on nonsense, the Wild Hunt leader began walking away, perhaps with the intention of taking a nap until Dorothea was ready. "We know our target was definitely here recently. See if the guards know anything about it. And make sure to keep them out of our way while we're here."

Understanding her orders loud and clear, the pink haired songstress smirked with satisfaction and sang her next set of lyrics with all the more gusto, "**Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly! ****Pack up, let's fly away!**"

* * *

_**. . . She left me no choice . . .**_

* * *

No more than forty-five minutes prior to the guard captain's sneak attack on the Port Gavin Inn, the Inn's owner as well as several guards had been evacuating each inhabited room as quietly as possible. The guard captain had been in such a magnanimous mood that evening that he even permitted his daughter, Cornelia to take part in this operation. It was an assignment he figured even she could not "screw up", but it was certainly a change of pace from her usual chores. It was an easy enough task. Escort every guest aside from the ones located in room 439.

Little did the guard captain know or even understand, however, was the complex series of swirling emotions in her head. He had merely brushed them off earlier that evening when they had their father/daughter talk, but perhaps he had made a mistake. Cornelia walked up to room 439 and upon making certain that no one else was watching her, she began knocking on the door.

After several knocks, Tatsumi groggily opened his eyes and yawned before sitting upright in the bed. "Who could that be?"

"Someone with a death wish it seems", Esdeath yawned before sitting upright as well. "I knew I should have frozen the door."

The former assassin proceeded to get out of their bed and see who it was disturbing them at this late hour. "Cora? What are you doing here?"

The little girl promptly rushed into the room and hurriedly shut the door behind her. "You guys have to get out of here! Fast!"

"Calm down, Cora", Tatsumi said before resting his hands on her shoulders. "What's going on?"

"Esdeath", the little girl said, her eyes directed towards the Ice Queen. "That is your name, right?"

"Hmm", she nodded with a polite smile on her lips. "Come to think of it, I did neglect to properly introduce myself to you in the tavern earlier. How rude of me."

To which the little girl responded by showing the pair a wanted poster with a picture of the Ice Queen in her general attire on it, "I don't know why, but somebody put a bounty on your head. 5 billion dead. 10 billion alive."

"What?!", Tatsumi exclaimed, jumping back in astonishment. "That's way more than anybody in Night Raid was ever worth. Who would put out that high a bounty?"

Esdeath, on the other hand, didn't look even the least bit surprised. She tried to hold in her reaction at first, covering her mouth even, but it was all she could do before the room quickly became filled with bellowed laughter. So much so that she was holding her sides. This revelation was simply too much for her to hold in. "Who would do that, my love? Why none other than my sworn enemy, Prime Minister Najenda. It makes perfect sense. Now that the emperor is her puppet, she has decided to capitalize on a golden opportunity to use me as a scapegoat to further her own ambitions with the surrounding nations. Well that's fine, Najenda. Anyone fool enough to try and collect my bounty is perfectly welcome to provide me with some entertainment. And from the look of things, that will start with Port Gavin's ineptly foolish guard captain."

"Wait a minute", Cornelia pleaded, tugging on the Ice Queen's arm. "You're not about to fight my father, are you? You don't need to do that. If you leave now-"

Esdeath flippantly tugged her arm away, determined to have none of it. "Why in the world would I run away from someone who has gone to so much effort to keep me entertained? That would be rude of me and I've never had any tolerance for rudeness, child."

"She's right", Tatsumi interjected. "If it's a fight we can avoid, we should avoid it. Taking on the Port Gavin guards won't serve any purpose."

The Ice Queen grabbed her clothes off the clothes rack and went behind the vanity screen in the room to change back into her regular attire. "It will for me, Tatsumi. When you're attacked, you have to strike back. Had these men minded their own business, I would've let them be, but they've made the foolish choice to come after me and so they have only themselves to blame for the horrors that are to come."

"So that's how it's gonna be, huh?", Tatsumi asked, his eyes narrowed.

"That IS how it's going to be", Esdeath responded before stepping out from the vanity screen in her full attire. "Though if you wish to try and stop me, by all means."

"Okay then", Tatsumi sighed in slight disappointment. "I really didn't want to do this, but if that's how you want to play, I guess you leave me no choice."

"I didn't intend to have our rematch just yet, but if you insist . . .", she smirked before posturing her hands in a position to activate her 'Weissschnabel' technique. "Have at thee!"

Tatsumi gazed upon his battle maniac of a girlfriend, but not with any anger or hostility or even the uncanny sense of calm he maintained throughout their entire previous battle. He didn't even try to reach for Incursio. Instead, he merely shrugged his shoulders and uttered the following words: "From the beginning of this trip until the end, you are not allowed to harm anybody unless I say otherwise. That's my request!"

In that moment, upon hearing those words, it looked as if all the joy and enthusiasm had been sucked out of the Ice Queen. She immediately cursed herself under her breath, having recalled the silly wager she had made with him earlier in the day and the stakes she agreed to be bound to in the unlikely event she lost. A wager she thought herself sure to win and a wager she just lost due to blind stupid luck. "You can't be serious."

"Dead serious", Tatsumi responded in a dismissive tone of voice before going behind the vanity screen to put his regular clothes back on as well.

The Ice Queen had found herself in a bit of quandary. Were it any other couple, mere words alone might not have had such power, but Esdeath was different in that respect. She loved Tatsumi more than anyone or anything else in the entire world and had already made it a point earlier that evening to tell him that trust and honesty were the cornerstones of any relationship. And so she wasn't going to go back on her word under any circumstance and Tatsumi knew this. Unfortunately, her love and loyalty had placed her into a situation where she would be unable to do the thing she loved perhaps the second most without someone else's permission. Even if only for a limited amount of time, the thought alone frustrated her to no end.

"Once we've dealt with the Omega Class danger beast, you can do as you like", he said after finally putting his clothes back on and stepping out from behind the vanity screen. "But for now, no fighting unless I say so, alright?"

Within a flash, the Ice Queen had summoned a razor sharp edged ice pick in her right hand and had thrusted it inches away from Tatsumi's left eye. Though her outburst was undoubtedly rooted in anger, there was a part of her hoping that her beloved would walk back on this request, at very least for her sake. Nevertheless, there wasn't a hint of indecision in his eyes and he didn't look the least bit intimidated. Thus, with a long and heavy sigh, she dropped her makeshift ice pick and relented. "Very well."

Cornelia watched this scene play out all the while, dumbstruck at never having seen a couple quite like the pair in this room. "So does that mean you two are not gonna fight?"

"Not tonight anyway", Tatsumi chuckled while patting the little girl on the head and sliding Incursio onto his back. "Now lets get out of here."

* * *

_**. . . Madness**_ . . .

* * *

Even though it was well past midnight, activity in Port Gavin had taken a sudden uptick; it was not just due to the antics of the Port Gavin guards. Several medium sized ships had recently arrived at the nearby dockyard. Out from these ships had come legions of battle ready armed men and women. Rifles, pistols swords, battleaxes, spears, halberds and more or less every conventional weapon imaginable. And yet despite how armed every man and woman descending down the boat ramps was, there was no solidarity amongst all of them. Some were in groups and some were lone-wolves, but they most certainly were not a collective army of any sort. Rather, they were mercenaries. Each was a member of what was perhaps one of the most renowned professions throughout Bestimmung. In a culture that prioritized strength and power so much, it only made sense that people who made their living killing people and danger beasts would be held in such regard.

And where was the first place seafaring mercenaries ventured to stop after a long voyage at sea? The tavern of course! Having to endure the doldrums of sitting on a ship rocking back and forth for hours on end, there was but one cure; a cold soothing mug of Bestimmung mead. Indeed, the Port Gavin tavern was bustling far more than it had been earlier in the day as scores of mercenaries were hooting and hollering for mead. Agatha, the crotchety waitress that had given Tatsumi and Esdeath a hard time earlier, had her hands full with orders from bad tempered mercenaries. Agatha did her best to take their orders, but with different people yelling and shouting at her from across the room, it was a difficult task.

"Hold your horses!", she shouted back. "I'll get to you! Just one at a time!"

"Wuz the hold up?!", a voice shouted. "Weez been waitin' 15 minutes and weez still haven't gotten our order!"

The elderly waitress cursed under her breath before grabbing four mugs from behind the bar counter and filling them with mead from one of the kegs nearby. She then brought these mugs to a booth with four thuggish burly looking mercenaries. "There. I'll have the rest of your order out once it's done cooking in the oven."

As Agatha was about to walk away, she felt a hand tug on her waist apron. "Whaddya mean yeel ave the rest of our order out once it's done cookin'?"

Agatha turned to look this mercenary in the eye while ripping her apron out of his thuggish hands. "Your smoked ham needs to be cooked in the oven first. Otherwise, it's gonna be cold!"

The mercenary quickly got up from out of his seat and quickly backhanded her face hard enough to send her to the floor like a ragdoll. "Wut the hell kinda town is this? It's one thing that you dun even have an inn for us to sleep at, but now you dun even have the grub ready on time? I oughta' bash your brains in you dumb cunt!"

"Now now my friend, there's no need for any of that", said a soothing voice followed by someone who had just now sauntered into the tavern. Everyone within the tavern had stopped yelling and shouting at this point, perhaps due to the scene the thuggish mercenary had just created as well as the entrance of the man who had just walked in. And quite a presence this man had going for him; he was an overweight, dark-skinned man with puffs of dark curly hair above his ears; he was wearing clown-like makeup and clothing, as well as a small baseball hat with a smiley face on it.

"Eh, waita' minute. I know you. Yer dat fatass freakshow dat wuz with those other weirdos dat sailed in with us earlier. Just who the fuck are you supposed to be?"

"Who am I? In this dreck-filled tale? Hmm", he chuckled while walking up to Agatha, bending down and helping her up. "Yes . . . why I'm just tonight's entertainment."

"Entertainment?", the thuggish mercenary laughed. "The fuck does that even mean?"

"It means that you gentleman are in for quite a show!, he exclaimed while tipping his hat. "But before we do that, how about another drink for everybody ON THE HOUSE!", he shouted the last three words with extra emphasis. Words that were met with jubilant cheers from every mercenary in the tavern.

"This is my kinda guy!", the thuggish mercenary laughed before sitting back down in his booth.

Agatha, who had detected the taste of salt in her mouth quickly spat it out. Blood and two teeth at that.

"Good heavens. This just won't do", the clown remarked while handing her a handkerchief he removed from his shirt pocket.

The old crotchety waitress proceeded to wipe the blood off of her mouth, but showed no appreciation for the efforts of her would-be savior. "I don't know what you meant by 'on the house', but nobody gets mead for free in this tavern, got it?"

To which the clown replied, "My utmost apologies, ma'am! I'll be footing the bill of course. I merely wanted to put you in the good graces of our esteemed audience of course."

"Whatever", Agatha shrugged before walking back to the enclosed kitchen area with the clown following suit.

Minutes later, the clown stepped out from the kitchen area with two large wide-round serving trays raised up and laying flat on both of his hands with shockingly enough mugs of mead to serve everyone within the tavern, yet again earning the jubilant cheers of every mercenary that was present. "Our good and fair waitress is tending to all of your entrees as we speak, but in the mean time, to hell with your sorrows, drink your way to tomorrow and enjoy the show!"

With an unparalleled show of dexterity, the clown tossed one of the serving trays he had been holding like a frisbee into the general vicinity. And through some means or fashion, each and every mug of mead not only landed on a table in front of half of the mercenaries present, but not a single one of them spilled even a single drop. The clown then proceeded to throw the other tray in the same fashion, producing the exact same miraculous results for the remaining mercenaries, causing all of them to not only clamor in astonishment, but to give more cheers and applause.

"How'd he do that!", yelled one of them.

"Now that's what I call entertainment!", yelled another.

"I told yah!", yelled the thuggish mercenary from earlier. "This is my kinda guy!"

"Yes, my friends!", the clown exclaimed. "When life gives you trouble, when it's too much for you to bear, DRINK IT ALL AWAY! INDULGE YOURSELVES UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT!"

Amidst drinking their freshly filled mugs, the mercenaries' cheers grew even louder, even more spirited.

Smiling at the happy go lucky scene before him, the clown began to chuckle. Tipping his hat once more, he began to make his way towards the exit door. "For when you remove everything else in this equation called life . . ."

Suddenly, all of the cheers, applauses and laughs in the room were snuffed out entirely with a different sound; the sounds of choking, convulsing and asphyxiation. ". . . all that remains is madness."

As the clown finally made his way out of the tavern, he noticed the samurai of Syura's Wild Hunt, Izou the Wanderer, leaning up against a nearby lamp post, sucking on the twig in his mouth as usual. "Stirring up more trouble, Champ?"

"Stirring up trouble? Mwah?", the clown responded with jovial laughter. "Tell me, dearest Izou, when you see a string of dominoes lined up and curiosity beckons you to give the first one in line a push, are you anymore to blame for what happens next than the hapless fool who set these dominoes up in the first place?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, the samurai retorted, "Regardless of its cause, a dead body is a dead body and you, my friend, have a trail of dead bodies behind you. A trail that will probably lead to other mercenaries looking to profit off of. Especially in this country. And the last thing we need is the attention of endless mercenaries while we're trying to track down Esdeath."

Wagging his index finger in disagreement, however, Champ did not appear to agree with the wandering samurai's conclusion. "A dead body is just that, my dear boy. A body incapable of telling a tale, so they say. And thus society will be inclined to rely upon other avenues when attempting to determine what happened here."

"Other avenues? What are you going on about?", Izou asked.

"An avenue society absolutely loves trailing down. Circumstantial evidence!", the clown laughed. "Circumstantial evidence portrays quite the intriguing tale in this instance; the tale of an old, overworked and underappreciated barmaid, who after years of having to deal with the brutish demands of mercenaries . . . finally snapped and poisoned every glass of mead she served them, ultimately sending each and every one of them to their early reward. But alas, the poor old woman could not bare her own unspeakable acts and thus attempted to take her own life. Fortunately for society, fate had other plans, her suicide attempt failed and though unconscious at the moment, she remains amongst the living so that she may face justice for her wicked deeds!"

"You hear that, kousetsu? What a waste.", Izou shook his head, his attention directed towards his sheathed katana. "He went and poisoned all of those idiots when you would've been just as happy to take their blood."

"Where is our fearless leader, by the way?", Champ asked, now smirking. "Given how you were casually waiting out here for me, I take it our ice princess is in another castle."

The samurai nodded his head in response. "Looks like Dorothea is gonna be nappin for a while."

"Tsk tsk", Champ remarked, shaking his head. "We really need to do something about these 8 hour leaps our target keeps getting ahead of us. It will take forever to catch them at this rate."

* * *

_**. . . I didn't understand . . . **_

* * *

Were one to travel north of Port Gavin, after clearing through the bordering forest, one would find themselves crossing over miles of vast, mostly flat, treeless areas with minimal vegetation; and at this time of year, despite the readily low temperatures, one would encounter very little snow. In other words, this region wasn't particularly known for its awe-inspiring scenery; a fact Tatsumi and Esdeath had become all too acquainted with after the sun had finally risen several hours ago. Yet that didn't stop them from racing further and further away from Port Gavin via horseback.

Tatsumi made a mental note of how Cornelia had not only helped them escape the inn without being seen, but had further assisted them in borrowing two horses from the guard barracks' stables. To top it all off, she had even secured them a map of Bestimmung. She had done all of these things to help them despite the ire she would surely earn from her guard captain father were he to learn of the role she had in their escape. She had done all of these things to help them despite the twisted sense of right and wrong many of these people in this country appeared to prioritize. The former Night Raid assassin could not help but admire the strength this little girl had managed to muster despite learning what had happened to her older brother earlier that evening.

With a frown having curved its way onto his lips, however, seeds of guilt began to fester in his heart. This little girl had done so much for them, but he had essentially left her in the lion's den to fend for herself. There was no telling what would happen if it was found out that she aided them in their escape. Yet, it was as Esdeath had pointed out before they had gone to bed. What was he supposed to do? Kidnap her and take her with them on this dangerous hunt for the Omega Class danger beast? Or perhaps impose his will on her father by beating him into submission? What was the right thing to do? No matter how much he pondered on the matter, he couldn't come up with an answer he was satisfied with.

Still racing alongside him on her stallion, Esdeath briefly glanced in her love's direction. She had gotten to know him well enough at this point that she could tell when he was reflecting upon something in deep contemplation. She suspected she knew what he was thinking, but was nonetheless irritated with him. From her perspective, if Tatsumi's concern was about Cornelia's well-being, she could have easily made short-work of anyone who would have dared lay a finger on that little girl; she most certainly would have done so if not for him having decided to use that wager they had made earlier to keep her from fighting anyone she chose. And yet despite her irritation, there was the gentler side of her that had been festering since the day she met him; there was a part of her that simply wanted to comfort him with a gesture a simple as wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close to her bosom.

Before she even knew it, she had began to steer her stallion closer to Tatsumi's with her right hand reached out towards him. Inching closer and closer, she didn't know what she was doing, but felt a strong compulsion to do so nevertheless. Yet before she could reach out to him . . .

"Chelsea!", Tatsumi shouted before sharply veering his stallion away to the right down a small incline all of the sudden.

"Who?! What?!", Esdeath shouted with an surprised look in her eyes. With a glance in the direction he was suddenly trotting in, beyond the small incline he had trotted down, she noticed what appeared to be a series of stagecoach wagons several hundred yards over yonder; there were at least fifty of them. The stagecoach wagons appeared to be parked with various people surrounding them. She wondered if Tatsumi noticed someone with his enhanced visual acuity just then.

Upon getting within a couple of yards of these wagons and people, the Incursio wielder hopped off his horse with his attention focused on a dolled up young woman who was dressed in a thick-white fur coat and was leaning up against one of the stagecoaches while several people in front were carting supplies. To Tatsumi's bemusement, however, the young woman was the spitting image of a woman he had known all too well; auburn hair, pink eyes, nonchalant and an oral fixation with some kind of lollipop in her mouth. "Chelsea? Is that really you?!"

"I'm sorry, but . . . who are you exactly?", the young woman replied after removing the item in her mouth; an item which was not some kind of lollipop, as Tatsumi suspected, but rather a cigarette.

"Oh . . .", he remarked with disappointment lingering in his voice, immediately realizing he had made a mistake; the discerning truth was that the real Chelsea would never substitute a lollipop for a cigarette "Sorry. You look just like a friend I used to know."

"This twerp giving you trouble, Ms. Lovecraft", said an approaching tall and burly bald man dressed in a suit and sunglasses; clearly a bodyguard of sorts.

"No, Bruno. He's just a big fan of my work", she replied after puffing a whiff of smoke into the air. "Be a doll and tell the boys to take five. I'd like to have a little chat with my adoring fan inside."

"As you wish", he said with a bow before directing his attention to the men carting supplies. "Alright ladies: Ms. Lovecraft said take five! After that, all of our camping equipment better be tucked away and your asses had better be ready to go!"

With that, the auburn haired woman flicked her cigarette bud away, opened the doors to the stagecoach she was leaning on and stepped right in. "Lets talk."

Esdeath, meanwhile, was observing the pair from a distance up the incline with her eyes squinted. "_Damn you, Tatsumi. If I go down there, there's a distinct possibility that someone will recognize me from my wanted poster; which I wouldn't mind if not for that foolish condition you imposed on me. Still, who is that woman you're talking to and why are you going inside that stagecoach with her . . . alone? And what is this tightening feeling in my chest all of the sudden?"_

Once Tatsumi stepped inside the stagecoach, he couldn't help but notice the lavish interior within; comfortable red velvet cushioned seats, gold rimmed door panels, an iced wine rack and a gold trimmed vanity mirror; this stage coach was fit for someone of royal lineage. Only this woman did not appear to be someone of royalty.

"Now then", she remarked while looking into the mirror and beginning to apply makeup. "With whom do I owe the pleasure of making your acquaintance?"

"Tatsumi, ma'am", he said while politely bowing his head.

"Sincerely good manners", she giggled. "You don't see that all too often in this country. Now lets see . . . Tatsumi . . . Tatsumi . . . Tatsumi", she openly pondered, rubbing her chin. "Nope, never heard of you. But it would seem you've heard of my big sister."

"Big sister? Chelsea's your big sister?", he replied.

"Well, more like twin sister, but she was technically born 22 seconds before I was. Always has lorded that over me. How's she holding up? It's been a couple of years since I've seen her. Is she still a complete bitch?"

Taken aback for a moment, the ex-assassin realized that it had not even occurred to him that Chelsea might have had family members, much less that no one had made them aware of her fate. He pondered for a moment as to whether he ought to even tell her, given that she had been a member of Night Raid and thus a member of a group that murdered people for a living. On the other hand, it had occurred to him that at very least, her sister had the right to know whether Chelsea was still alive. "Well that's the thing", Tatsumi said with a frown forming on his lips, not knowing quite how to phrase what needed to be said. "Chelsea is . . ."

"Still a complete bitch", Ms. Lovecraft remarked, still giggling. "You don't need to tell me. I know all about her medical school application."

To which Tatsumi replied, openly confused. "Her what?"

"Ha, it's no secret", she said, having stopped applying makeup, only to turn and shift her gaze upon Tatsumi directly. "She's been talking about medical school for years. Not just any medical school, but the elite Redthorn Academy. Based on the look on your face earlier, I'm guessing she left you high and dry without saying so much as a word."

"_She really has no idea_"_, _he thought, barely able to contain his disbelief.

"Yep, she did the same to me before doing a little vanishing act a couple of years ago. I'll give it to sis, though. Somehow, she really has made dad proud. You might not know this, but the Lovecrafts have always been known for their masterful sense of thespianism. Stretching all the way back to our great great great grandfather, Sir Roderick Lovecraft and his brilliant performance in 'The King and his Sword', theater has always been in our blood. Ever since the day I was born, I, the great Helen Patricia Lovecraft, have been destine for success. A destiny which my twin sister should be sharing at my side. And yet one day, dad filled some nonsense in her head about going out and being her own person. She left our estate back then and has not come back sense. Truly a bitch I'm afraid."

"You haven't heard from her?", he asked.

"She sends us letters every now and then. And dad simply won't shut up about her recent acceptance into medical school. But dear old dad is getting up there in years, so if that's what makes him happy, I guess I can put up with it."

"You . . . don't say", said Tatsumi, seemingly with the proverbial cat having gotten his tongue.

"But enough about my relationship with her. I want to hear about yours", she said with the utmost interest and enthusiasm.

"My relationship with Chelsea, huh. I guess you could say we started off as . . . coworkers. She didn't really get along with anybody at first", he remarked, recalling how they had first met and how she had openly insulted Night Raid for the carelessness the team had displayed through Bulat and Sheele's deaths. "But the more we worked together, the more I began to see that there was more to her than meets the eye. And before I knew it, we had become pretty close friends."

Eyes beaming with enthusiasm and with her chin resting in her hands, Helen replied,"Close friends with sis? This I have got to hear! And don't skimp out on the details, Sir Tatsumi!"

Esdeath was still observing the scene out of sight from Helen's entourage. And as time had passed, she had crossed her arms and had begun impatiently tapping an elbow with her eyes squinted. "_It's been 20 minutes since they went inside that stagecoach. Just what in blue blazes are they doing in there . . . alone? Damnit. If they don't come out soon, I swear I'll . . ."_

Indeed, it had been 20 minutes since the pair had entered the stagecoach together. Nothing salacious had been going on of course. Rather, Tatsumi was merely regaling Ms. Lovecraft with stories of her older sister; various anecdotes and their antics and adventures. Of course, he made certain not to mention any details about Night Raid, the nature of Chelsea's true profession or her fate, but he did nevertheless honor the younger sibling's request not to 'skimp out on the details.'

"That's just too rich!", Helen guffawed while slapping one of her knees. "I knew she was a bitch, but she actually held a pair of scissors in her hands the entire time?!"

"True story", Tatsumi laughed, holding one of his hands up as if to swear. "And that is how I finally learned the tango."

Before Helen could inquire any further, she heard a knock on the stagecoach window adjacent to where she was sitting. She turned to look in that direction, only to see her bodyguard, Bruno, notably tapping his wristwatch. With a sigh, she nodded her head before turning back to Tatsumi. "Unfortunately, we're on a deadline and need to get back moving. Such is the life of an esteemed actress I'm afraid."

"Where are you headed?", Tatsumi asked.

"To Hertz. Steel Festival starts in two weeks and we're going to have our hands setting up for the play as well as some of the events."

"That's actually where I'm headed; to Hertz anyway."

"Truly?", she smiled, her eyes yet again beaming. "Then this is perfect! Why don't you travel with us then? We've got plenty of food and camping supplies. You can ride with me personally. I'd love to hear more stories about sis."

"Well . . .", Tatsumi answered, pausing to consider the thought. The prospect of free food, shelter and transportation while venturing to their intended destination was certainly promising. On the other hand, the ex-assassin suddenly pictured the mental image of a chibi Esdeath laughing with wicked glee as everybody surrounding her tried to attack her in order to get the bounty on her head. They had gotten lucky in Port Gavin, but now that he knew just how many gold pieces the Ice Queen was worth, Helen's proposal simply wasn't worth the hassle. "Sorry . . . but I can't travel with you."

"Why not?", Helen asked, hoping he would change his mind if she prodded the matter. "Is it Bruno? He's like that with everybody. Besides, this is my production company and I'm the one in charge. No one will give you any trouble here. I promise."

"It's not that", he said while grinning and rubbing the back of his head. "I'm traveling with a friend and . . . I guess you could say she's kind of shy. Not just kind of shy, but really really shy. Super shy in fact! She doesn't like being around other people for too long."

To which the auburn haired actress could not help but sigh in disappointment. "Fine, but do please come see me when you get to Hertz. I haven't had such riveting conversation with anyone in a long time. Promise you will come see me again."

"Sure!', he nodded. "You can count on it."

"As to your shy friend, I'd love to meet her. Get her out of her shell so to speak, but I imagine she'd be hard pressed to work up the courage were we to talk right now."

Still grinning and rubbing the back of his head, Tatsumi thought, "_Esdeath? Courage? Geez, if she only knew_!"

Helen proceeded to open the doors and step out from the stagecoach with Tatsumi following her in her steed. "In my experience, I've found that shyness is best overcome with kindness. To show your friend that she has nothing to fear from me, I shall give her a gift: This stagecoach and everything inside. Tell her friend that I officially bequeath this to her."

"What?", Tatsumi asked with a surprised look on his face. "But this is your stagecoach. Don't you need it to get to Hertz?"

"Sir Tatsumi! Do you not see how many stagecoaches I have out here? Did you not hear me earlier? This is my production company after all. And the loss of one mere stagecoach is of no inconvenience to the great Helen Patricia Lovecraft!"

"Well . . . thanks then", he replied with a big and cheerful smile on his face.

"And thank you for the riveting conversation!" she giggled while Bruno escorted her into another stagecoach while several other men untied the horses that had been strapped to the front of the stagecoach their employer was now giving away. "Don't forget your promise!"

Tatsumi had begun waving goodbye "I won't! I'll make sure to come see you in Hertz!"

"Until we meet again, Sir Tatsumi", she said before blowing a kiss in a grandiose and exaggerated fashion.

With that, Helen and her production company proceeded to venture forward via all of their horses and stagecoaches. And in almost no time, Tatsumi was left there in an empty field at his lonesome, albeit with the stallion he road in on as well as the stagecoach the twin sister had left behind. Indeed, he was completely and utterly at his loneso- . . . hoofbeats. The ex-assassin could hear hoofbeats trampling in his direction all of the sudden. He looked towards the small incline he had ridden down earlier only to see that Esdeath's horse had charged straight down and was hoofing towards his general vicinity. The Ice Queen wasn't riding it, however.

Noticing something in the corner of his eyes, Tatsumi looked up in the air and saw his radiant blue haired companion swooping down towards him; she must've leapt off her horse before he even noticed. With confusion in his eyes, he yelled out, "Hey! Waittaminute, what are you-"

But before he could finish his sentence, the Ice Queen had tackled him to the ground; she had secured herself firmly on his chest, had used her knees to pin his shoulders down into place and was scowling down upon his face. "Quick question, my love: In regards to this condition that I refrain from harming anyone without your permission for the remainder of this trip, does that include you?"

"Nope", Tatsumi responded with a surprisingly straight-face. "Just everyone el-... YOWTCH"

"Good!", she retorted before he could even finish his sentence.

After a few surprisingly creative yet pain-filled minutes had passed, the Ice Queen dusted off her hands while finally getting up off from her boyfriend's chest and standing up. The scowl on her face had been replaced with a content smile and her demeanor had changed completely. "You know . . . that was surprisingly . . . therapeutic. We should do that more often."

"Yeah . . . ", said Tatsumi as he achingly got up. ". . . lets not."

"Who was that woman by the way and what were you and her doing inside this stagecoach . . . alone?", she replied, shuddering in disgust as she uttered that last word.

"Geez", Tatsumi said, popping his neck as if the ease the trauma he had just endured for the past several minutes. "Is THAT what this is about? We were just talking."

"For that matter, how do you know her?"

"For starters, her name is Helen Patricia Lovecraft and I didn't know her; she just happened to look just like her sister who was a member of Night Raid", he replied, having proceeded to popping his shoulders."

To which Esdeath replied with a surprised look in her eyes, "Helen Patricia Lovecraft? The Helen Patricia Lovecraft?"

"You know her?"

"Not quite, but I have heard of her. I've never gotten to see her plays, but I have listened to all of her opera records. She's got quite a voice. But that doesn't explain why she left you this stagecoach or why she . . . blew you a kiss", the Ice Queen remarked, shuddering in disgust once more as she uttered those last four words.

To which the ex-assassin answered, having proceeded to stretching his arms. "The stagecoach is actually for you."

"For me?", Esdeath asked before glancing towards this alleged gift and examining its features with her own eyes. "And what would prompt such charity from such a renowned actress?"

"She's just a really nice person I guess", he said, once again grinning while rubbing the back of his head. "She actually wanted us to come with her to Hertz, but I turned her down for . . . pretty obvious reasons."

"5 to 10 billion obvious reasons I suppose", she remarked, still inspecting the lone stagecoach. She opened a storage compartment in the back, quickly noticing various supplies and other items. "But that doesn't explain her excessive generosity."

"She's rich", he shrugged. "Honestly, I don't get why you're so hung up about her."

"I'm not 'hung up about her'", she said, with passive-aggressive emphasis on the last four words. "I'm simply skeptical of her true intentions . . . whatever they may be. Which is why you absolutely will not speak with her again unless I am present."

"Which would be fine by me if not for those 5 to 10 billion reasons you just referred to", he said with a sigh.

"Thanks to your new . . . friend, that will no longer be a problem", she smirked with satisfaction, her eyes fixated on the compartment in the back of the stagecoach. She removed what appeared to be many many different coat hung outfits. And from the look of things, they were various stage-play costumes: One of a cat burglar, another of a werewolf, another of a sailor, another of a pirate, another of a clown, another of a caveman, another of a bride, another of a queen and so on and so on. Of course, not all of the outfits were the same size, much less ideal, but several of them appeared to be to the Ice Queen's liking. "General Esdeath won't have to flee every plebeian simpleton on sight. Not when she's nowhere to be found."

At this point, Tatsumi had walked over to where his blue haired companion was standing so that he could get a better look at the outfits that had caught her attention. "I see. So you plan to hide in plain sight?"

"It's not 'hiding', Tatsumi", she said with clear emphasis on her disdain of the h-word she refused to be associated with . . . at least in this context. "In light of my wanted poster, my new wardrobe will merely make me less conspicuous. The only question now is what to wear."

"Won't your hair still . . .", he said before pausing with a fierce blush on his face. "Whoa! Wait! What are you doing?!"

To which Esdeath bluntly replied, having begun to remove her blouse. "Changing clothes."

"B-but you can't do that here out in the open!", he stammered, his face only a few shades lighter than his eyes.

"This again?", she chuckled. "At this point, it's not like there is anything you haven't seen before."

"No way!", he continued to stammer. "We're in the middle of an open field. You can't."

"Oh very well, my love", she laughed, readily amused by her boyfriend's seemingly chaste antics before grabbing several of the outfits, opening one of the stagecoach doors and stepping up inside. "I'll change in here." She closed the door behind her and gave a playful wink before lowering what appeared to be a set of curtains on each window."

Tatsumi, on the other hand, sighed in relief before walking to the front of the stagecoach and noting multiple straps that horses had previously been tied to. He then took the time to guide his horse as well as Esdeath's horse to the front, only to fasten them both in place afterwards.

"Well Tatsumi, what do you think?", she said, have stepped out of the stagecoach.

The Incursio-wielder walked back to the side to have a look upon the Ice Queen, but could not believe what she was wearing; it was a cerulean shaded royal robe with mink fur trims as well as an almost skin tight fine linen cerulean silhouette dress; to top it off, she was even wearing a tiara on her head; without a doubt, she was truly dressed for the part of an 'ice queen.' Tatsumi, of course, was left scratching his head, wondering why she would think this kind of outfit would not draw any unnecessary attention in her direction. "Didn't you say you were trying to go for something less conspicuous?"

"Silence, knave!", she mock-shouted while pointing her finger at him in an aristocratic fashion. "Queen Esdeath shall be as conspicuous as she desires!"

"Queen Esdeath?", he asked, covering his mouth and doing his best to hide his light snickers. "_What's gotten into her? A minute ago, it felt like she was mad at me. So what brought this on all of the sudden?_"

Esdeath conjured a makeshift ice scepter out of thin air only to then walk up to Tatsumi and point it at him. "Kneel before your queen!"

_"She's really getting into this."With_ a shrug of his shoulders and another light chuckle, he knelt down before her like a knight of legend. "Yes, your majesty!"

"What is thy title, young knight?"

To which he replied, almost hamming up the part. "Sir Tatsumi, my lady! Knight and Champion of Justice!"

Doing her best not to laugh, she replied with her scepter held out over his back, "Very well, Sir Tatsumi! Henceforth, you shall be my Knight and Champion of Justice!"

"It would be my honor, my lady!", he said, still kneeling, now with his head bowed with playful reverence.

"As your first task as knight, your queen commands you to cut down all of her enemies!"

"As your knight", he said, doing his best not to chuckle. "I shall stand in the way of your enemies and shall defend my lady with my life!"

"Hmm", she pondered, inquisitively tapping her chin. "Then again, if you slay all of my enemies, that won't leave any for me, will it? What good is being a queen if I can't fight my own battles?"

Tatsumi raised his head just enough so that their eyes would meet. Then, with a grin on his face, he responded, "If your majesty requires an opponent to be satisfied, she can always face her loyal knight! As long as your loyal knight is around, your majesty will never have need for another opponent again."

For a brief moment, she felt a faint blush on her cheeks. She could not really explain where it had come from all of the sudden, but dismissed it nevertheless with a click and overt clearing of her throat. "Very well, young knight. Henceforth, you shall be your queen's opponent and your opponents shall be your queen's! Now rise!"

Nodding his head while still seemingly hamming up the part, Tatsumi promptly stood up from his kneeled position. He gazed upon the Ice Queen, expecting her to be amused as she made additional queenly demands. And yet to his surprise, it was as if her playful side had been whisked away all of the sudden; she looked uncharacteristically timid and uncertain; she had even gone as far as shifting her gaze away from him.

"So . . . all kidding aside . . . how do I look?"

"Um . . .", he stammered, now even more taken aback at the seeming randomness of her question. "You look pretty good I guess."

To which the Ice Queen sighed before tossing her makeshift ice-scepter away and walking back into the stagecoach.

"_What was that about?"_, he scratched his head in bewilderment. Usually, her shifting temperaments would involve her being flirtatious at one moment and battle-crazy at another, but this, whatever it was, was something else entirely. Anger, passive anger, playfulness, uncertainty, frustration. Yet another sudden quirk in her behavior, but he could not grasp why.

A few minutes later, Esdeath came right back out of the stagecoach, dressed in a completely different outfit; she was wearing a loose long sleeved linen white shirt, a pair of black pants, black leather gloves, high-heeled black boots, an unbuttoned navy blue buccaneers jacket and a navy blue tricorne hat; in other, she was dressed very much like a pirate captain. "This suits me much better", she said, smirking with satisfaction.

"But your hair", Tatsumi remarked, eyeing the Ice Queen's new apparel up and down while walking around her. "Isn't it kind of a dead giveaway?"

"Blue hair is pretty common up north, but just to be on the safe side . . .", Esdeath replied, beaming with confidence before tying her hair into a long pony-tail and securing it with a black hairband. "That should do it!"

"Well you definitely look the part, Es-. . .", he said, pausing before he could utter her name; it had suddenly dawned on him that he wouldn't be able to call her by the name of a notoriously wanted woman when they were out in public. In a city as populated as Hertz, surely even mentioning the name Esdeath would be enough to make various heads turn.

Luckily, however, the Ice Queen was two steps ahead of her boyfriend on this matter. "Gehrman. Captain Maria L. Gehrman."

"So we're pirates now?", Tatsumi remarked, shuddering at just the mere thought of a chibi Ice Queen laughing malevolently on a pirate ship while a chibi version of himself indignantly steered at the helm.

To which Esdeath replied with an all the more smug smile. "It's either pirates or you let me handle this bounty situation the way I wanted to handle it in the first place. Which will it be, my love?"

With but a single sigh, Tatsumi acknowledged defeat. "Fine. Pirates it is."

"Pirates it is, what?!", she replied with that smug smile now imprinted onto her lips.

"Yeah yeah", he shrugged with a dismissive wave of the hand. "Pirates it is, Captain."

"That's what I thought", she retorted with triumphant laughter. "Now then, to Hertz at once!"

* * *

_**. . . She left him no choice . . .**_

* * *

Significantly further northwest was the famed Bestimmung city of Hertz. The very place Tatsumi had visited Chelsea the last time he had been in this country and also the very place he was currently seeking to travel to once again. A proud, wealthy and industrious city and the home of much of Bestimmung's elite; it was perhaps a polar opposite of Port Gavin.

Hours had passed since Tatsumi's encounter with the famous Helen P. Lovecraft and the sun had gone back down. And true to the weather Bestimmung was famous for, a snowstorm had festered its way into the area; weather northerners had grown well accustomed to, but not weather the typical northerner would be foolish enough to stay in without seeking shelter. As such, the streets of Hertz were mostly empty. This was especially the case for the wealthier citizens who lived in estates.

In one such estate, there was a well-dressed middle aged woman with crown braided blue hair sitting in a lounge chair near the fireplace in what could only be described as the den area. And not just any den, but a den full of mounted stuffed danger beast heads hoisted up on the walls: class one ice wolves, a class one ice rhino, a class one earth dragon, a class one ice-bear and even the armor of a supreme class headless hunter.

The flames from the fire place danced restlessly as this middle-aged woman watched, apparently content with gazing upon this sight for hours on end, sipping a cool tall glass of red wine every several minutes as she watched. Once her glass eventually became empty, she decided to grab the bottle she had set on the end table next to her chair. And as she began pouring herself another glass, she paused for a moment.

She suddenly ceased her fixation on the dancing blaze in front of her, instead more fixated on her glass of wine. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed something on her glass; she noticed a reflection. "At first, I pitied your existence. Trapped in an endless sea of madness. But the more I watch, the more I wonder if perhaps you're the lucky one. After all, what is madness but to no longer be burdened by your own inhibitions?"

Within the reflection on the middle-aged woman's glass was none other than a young girl with short black hair and black eyes; a young girl who wore an all too familiar black sailor uniform; it was none other than the crazed former Jaeger, Kurome. And 'crazed' was perhaps an understatement at that moment as she stood adjacent to the middle aged woman with an axe-crazy smile on her face and with a kitchen butcher knife in her hand. She didn't appear to have yatsufusa equipped, but that alone was hardly a significant handicap to a professional killer like herself.

Without saying a word,she lunged towards the middle aged woman while practically emanating with bloodlust. Yet before she could do the dirty deed, a strong pair of arms swiftly wrapped themselves around the black eyed girl's neck; the two arms readily locked themselves into a sleeper hold position. Though she struggled at first, it was to no avail; within seconds, she had lost consciousness.

And who would so quickly put this former Jaeger down and out? None other than the current wielder of Grand Chariot of course: Wave. Despite being dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers, he was more than up to the task. And yet despite his swift victory, he looked anything but pleased with his actions. Rather, a frown had formed on his lips and his eyes radiated with nothing but disappointment and regret.

* * *

**A/N:** And there we are with yet another chapter complete!

Love it? Hate it? Had to have been written by a complete and total hack? Meh? Feel free to leave a review! Feedback is always appreciated! As are follows and favorites! Thanks again and look forward to the third chapter as soon as I get around to it!


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